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00:00That is the unmistakable voice of Nick Friedle.
00:04So out to the River Islands, guest line we go.
00:06However, we're not on the line.
00:08We are in-studio.
00:09Odyssey Sports, NBA Insider, and our very good friend Nick Friedle and Insider Calls
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00:20Hi, friend.
00:21Guys, I've missed you.
00:23I have been listening from a distance.
00:26I couldn't stay away.
00:27And now we're only a few days away from what the hell are they going to do?
00:31Well, the beauty of this, Nick, and Nick, who obviously covered the Warriors for a long
00:35time, did it for ESPN for a long time, and now Odyssey NBA Insider here with us.
00:41You were just in here with us about three weeks ago.
00:44So my first question is, what's different today than three weeks ago, other than the
00:49fact that Luka is a Laker?
00:52Not one damn thing.
00:53Okay.
00:54As far as we're concerned.
00:55As far as the Warriors are concerned.
00:56In the moment.
00:57I mean, Mark, they are going to call and call and call.
01:02That is an ongoing process.
01:04But to actually pull off a difference-making move, where you take them from where they
01:09are right now, which is a completely mediocre team, to some other place of which everybody
01:16out in the Bay expects them to be, that is going to be very, very difficult to pull off.
01:21And as we're looking at the possibilities, again, I think they'll make some kind of move.
01:27But I don't see them being able to vault from 10-11, where they're at in the moment, to
01:34some sort of, oh, well, we're going to potentially make some noise in the postseason.
01:39We talked about, like, big move, Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid, Jimmy Butler.
01:46Medium move.
01:47And I said small move before, but you're right, Mark.
01:49Like a Vucevic or a Cam Johnson, it's a more medium move.
01:52A small move would be, we're getting rid of a guy so we can take on no salary and get
01:58under the tax.
01:59Or no move at all.
02:00So big, medium, small, or no, like, based on what happened this weekend, are you leaning
02:06more now toward the big move?
02:08I'm still leaning towards some sort of smedium, somewhere in the...
02:11Look at that.
02:12That's what I'm wearing now, after my abundant life weight loss.
02:15I am proud of you.
02:16You are rolling.
02:17I love it.
02:18I mean, I'm never getting back to a smedium, but, you know, whatever it takes, I think
02:26the Warriors will probably make some kind of move, but it would surprise me as we sit
02:31here right now if that move is, all right, we're going to bring Kevin back or Jimmy's
02:38going to appear.
02:40I've told you both, though, this, and I hold to it.
02:43I think Jimmy would fit here.
02:45I know there's so many different conversations about, well, what would happen in the locker
02:49room?
02:50I think Jimmy would fit in the moment.
02:51Of course, Brian, my friend Brian Windhorst comes out with the report, they don't want
02:55to do an extension.
02:56Okay.
02:57You know, if that's the case, then it might all well be done.
03:01But I just don't see that magical player being able to ride in on some kind of trade and
03:10for everybody to suddenly look at this team that much different from where they're at
03:15right now.
03:16I got so many questions.
03:17Can I start with this one?
03:19Because you just brought up Jimmy Butler and Wendy's report that talks are off because
03:24Jimmy Butler doesn't want to do an extension with the Warriors.
03:27When I read that, I'm like, good, the Warriors don't want to do an extension with you.
03:31Absolutely.
03:32Or maybe they do.
03:33And I'm wrong.
03:34But like, Jimmy, you're not Mr. Right.
03:37You're Mr. Right now.
03:38So why?
03:39Right.
03:40Do the Warriors want to extend Jimmy Butler?
03:42Mark, that would shock.
03:43It would shock me.
03:44Right.
03:45If he got to the Warriors and the Warriors were like Mike Dunleavy, who was his teammate
03:50in Chicago, has a relationship with him is like, yeah, hey, at 36, we're going to we're
03:55going to trust that those knees can get us through the next couple of years and you can
03:59be the piece that would just stun me.
04:03If you could get Jimmy for three months and say, all right, we think you can be the piece
04:09that gives us a chance in the playoffs, I am all for that move.
04:14But if I were the Warriors, hell no, I wouldn't want to extend Jimmy because he has played
04:20for so many years so much.
04:22I feel like those knees are just about to go and you don't want to invest, as we all
04:28know, in past production.
04:30You want to invest in what would happen in the future.
04:33So why would that report come out that way?
04:36My read on it, and that's all it is, and I haven't talked to Brian, and I'm curious to
04:42see what happens in the next couple of days, is that it was somebody within the Jimmy circle
04:49who's saying, we want to get to Phoenix.
04:51We want Phoenix to end up being the place.
04:55That's been my read all along, that Phoenix was ultimately where he wanted to go.
05:00I would tell you guys, I still don't believe that that team with Jimmy and Kevin and Booker
05:06is enough.
05:07It sure looks good on paper, but I don't think they're going to have enough to get through
05:11four different rounds of the playoffs.
05:13But the Jimmy stuff, I mean, he's such an interesting personality.
05:18He is absolutely going to make that team better.
05:21But again, I'm not paying for future Jimmy knowing what he's already put onto his body
05:29for all this time.
05:30But if Phoenix is in the Jimmy sweepstakes, and let's just entertain that reality for
05:34the moment, they're going to have to part with either Devin, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal,
05:40or Kevin Durant.
05:41You're not part with Devin Booker, Bradley Beal's got a no trade.
05:45So now all eyes on Kevin Durant.
05:46So is there a scenario where it could be Jimmy from Miami to Phoenix, Kevin from Phoenix
05:52to Golden State, and then Golden State shovels 50 million worth of detritus, no disrespect
05:58to any actual human beings involved in this, but I thought you'd like that.
06:03The vocab is back.
06:04I missed you.
06:05I missed you too.
06:06It'd be Wiggins and Schroeder and whatever other expirings would make it work.
06:11Would that be something that could be like palatable for Miami?
06:15If I'm an executive hearing us even get to detritus, I got to look that one up.
06:20I'd like to think I have the context clues, but I'm thinking my head is hell to the no.
06:27Hell no.
06:28But we've got pics.
06:29Yeah.
06:30Well, pics.
06:31So that clearly didn't matter enough to Dallas that there are pics.
06:35But detritus is debris or trash, technically.
06:38Well, hey, the more you know.
06:39You could have said anything right there.
06:40Whatever you say, Mr. Gibbs.
06:41You could have been like, detritus is Kevin Durant's middle name.
06:42And I'd be like, oh, I didn't know that.
06:51The interesting turnoff in the conversation with Phoenix would be if they, two years later,
06:58whatever it's been since that initial deal went down, would say, all right, we're just
07:03going to break this thing up.
07:04And I don't see any way that Matt Ishbia, the new owner out there, is going to say,
07:10ah, we've waited long enough.
07:12It's not going to happen.
07:13The thing that I think would not only be the best story, but would actually work, is if
07:18Kevin reappeared here.
07:20I think that the marriage could work again.
07:22I think they could find the love again between the two parties.
07:26The problem is that what are you going to give up that's going to make Matt Ishbia and
07:31that son's front office go, OK, yeah, we'll do it?
07:36That one, again, it's fun to go through the process of, well, could this happen and could
07:41that happen?
07:42Out of all the scenarios, that would be my personal favorite.
07:46I just don't buy that the sons are going to break it all up this early.
07:50OK, let's peel that orange, though.
07:52So I want you to crystallize what you just said as someone who covered that locker room
07:57when Kevin Durant was here.
07:59You believe Kevin would play with Draymond again.
08:02I absolutely believe that Kevin, Draymond, Steph could make it work.
08:08Because the key with all of those guys, on top of being Hall of Fame players, is they
08:15want to win and they've been around enough spots in their career to know that in order
08:21for them to win, they need players who understand them around them.
08:27So I've never bought into this idea that Kevin could never come back and it could never work
08:33because of all the bad blood that happened at the end and that maybe lingered for a few
08:38years.
08:39I think everybody's in a different place and that's life.
08:41People change and there is that evolution of what's going on.
08:44But Mark, to your question, I don't see any reason why Kevin and Draymond and Steph, being
08:52the leader that he is, couldn't look at each other and go, OK, we know what this was and
08:58what that provided for us.
09:00We know what it still can be.
09:02And all three of us are on two teams right now that just aren't good enough.
09:07Why not come back together?
09:09OK, so and Nick Fridell is with us here in studio.
09:12The NBA insider covered the Warriors for a long time.
09:16So the next piece of that, that orange to peel then is what you said about the Suns
09:22and their owner, Matt Ishbia.
09:24And I get it.
09:25A lot of people will say this is a big ego and big money and you're not going to peel
09:29this thing apart.
09:31That said, I've heard that things with the Suns are very bumpy and rocky right now.
09:38That's number one.
09:40Number two is, I sort of was of this opinion last offseason that you can have all the ego
09:46and money you want, but this isn't working.
09:50And the Suns have totally ripped apart their future draft stock.
09:56Is there any chance that they're looking at a record that is barely north of the Warriors
10:01and going, all right, yeah, with like, we need we need picks.
10:06And the Warriors are a match there.
10:08The answer to your question is, is there somebody within Ishbia's world, whether it's
10:14within the Suns organization or around him that can tell him we are not good enough.
10:20And I don't have that answer.
10:22I've heard the same things about Phoenix in that, hey, it's not really been a smooth ride.
10:28Budenholzer comes in, oh, he's going to wave the wand and it was all going to be good.
10:32No, that's not the case.
10:34The Suns are not good enough.
10:36Right now, the Warriors are not good enough.
10:39So if I'm Mike Dunleavy sitting here with a couple of days left, I'm going, hell, yeah,
10:44I keep calling and I keep seeing.
10:46But as far as Phoenix goes.
10:49The key words to me are ego and money, right?
10:53And if Ishbia can accept that the what he wanted to build and the moves they made getting
10:59Kevin out of Brooklyn, I mean, I was there for the end of that, too.
11:02That was a mess on Brooklyn's end and Phoenix thought that they were just going to keep
11:07contending for a while that they really haven't even been heard from that much there.
11:11They win the headlines, not the games.
11:14That's never what you want.
11:15I still think Kevin will stay there at least for a little bit.
11:20But the whole reason Kevin left Brooklyn is because he knew they were on the way to a
11:23rebuild.
11:24He didn't think they could win.
11:26Kevin knows and follows the game more than any person I have ever come across covering
11:32the league.
11:34I know he's honest with himself.
11:36I'm sure he knows that that team probably isn't good enough, either.
11:40So I'm sure he's looking around going, all right, what's next?
11:43I would still be surprised.
11:45Forget if Kevin came here.
11:47I mean, if Kevin were to be moved in the next couple of days.
11:51Is your surprise, though, lessened by what has happened since the weekend, since Friday?
11:56Because Mark and I have been talking about players who might move and what could potentially
12:01happen.
12:02And then the weekend happens where Darren Fox is on the move and Levine, the long awaited
12:06trade and of course, the the Luka Doncic move for Anthony Davis.
12:10So for me, that kind of changes the calculus and all these moves.
12:14And Mark actually said it in the summer, like Phoenix absolutely has to do something.
12:19And I was saying, well, not necessarily.
12:22And they tried to make this work and here they are at 25 and 23.
12:26So I guess it's it still is more possible now for me on a Monday than it was on Friday
12:31that something big could happen in Phoenix.
12:33I think my big takeaway is the NBA has changed and anybody can be moved.
12:38If you're moving a guy in Luka who's 25, who is the next one of the faces of the league
12:45who fills up every arena seemingly that he goes into, then, yeah, Mr. Gibbs, anything
12:51could be possible.
12:53But you could also have the perspective of, well, the Mavs are just insane and they made
12:59a move that a ton of other teams probably wouldn't have made.
13:02And they were only dealing with one team when they could have actually put the offers, collected
13:08them and then seen what was better and got a zillion more draft picks.
13:12So I think the NBA is kind of in shock at the Dallas move itself.
13:19I don't think that's going anywhere for a while.
13:21I don't believe that the domino effect will be such, though, that we see a bunch of other
13:26really crazy moves, no moves ever going to be crazier than that move.
13:29It would just surprise me if now, oh, well, everybody's going to be moving all over the
13:34place because, again, I go back to ego and money.
13:39And when you have that in play in all these decision-making ideas and offers that appear,
13:46it slows down a little bit after the first huge domino falls.
13:51Odyssey NBA insider Nick Fridell, you recognize the voice is in studio with us.
13:56Insider calls are brought to you by Hyundai.
13:58Now you can buy a new Hyundai from the comfort of your new home at Amazon.
14:03Visit HyundaiUSA.com for more details.