NBA Trade Winds Are Gusting! The Latest On Butler, Fox, + What Happened To Cam Johnson!

[00:00:21] It's a feel good Friday, you know what time it is, Front Runner Podcast Collective is on the air, I am your humble host, Vince, and we have a ton to get to, why? Because everybody and their mama wants to be traded, and then nobody has any money to trade for anyone, so we got a lot of stuff, there's a ton

[00:00:48] So, what we're gonna do, is we're gonna tell you about how we got to this situation last night, and into today If the phone has buzzed, or there has been a chime going off, there has been a sense of anticipation with this podcast So, we are here to break down all the information that we have at this present moment

[00:01:15] And also, we wanna keep in mind this If something breaks over the weekend, if it's a De'Rion Fox trade, or a Jimmy Butler trade Nine times out of ten, there will be a emergency pot, right? If, for some reason, that doesn't happen We're going to go to regular schedule, so we'll have Monday, Wednesday

[00:01:41] But remember, Thursday, February 6th After all the dust has settled After all the I's have been dotted The T's have been crossed And Adam Silver Is having that vodka tonic Saying, another trade deadline done That's when we come alive We will have a trade deadline special

[00:02:10] And we will break down every single trade Things that didn't happen Why they might have not happened And go from there Lots of stuff to get to And we're gonna get right into it So, being up until two o'clock in the morning And things of that nature And dreaming about Zach Levine being traded To Orlando And thinking about Mickey Mouse ears

[00:02:37] All over my dreams last night Super crazy Don't wanna ever do that again So hopefully we can get some of this Out of my head And into your earwaves And then you can have dreams About Zach Levine somewhere Playing for Denver Or something like that And wearing Technicolor colors and stuff Let's get into it We're gonna start With our front-running thought And our front-running thought And it always stays

[00:03:08] Jimmy Butler But we're gonna go differently Because we're gonna go with the team That he doesn't wanna go to We're gonna go to the team The Memphis Grizzlies And the Memphis Grizzlies Played an incredible game last night Against the Houston Rockets Where They won by one point They were absolutely Clutched down the stretch Jaron Jackson Jr. Is a absolute stud And he carried his team

[00:03:37] To victory last night We also saw Some of the Crunch time issues For the Houston Rockets Last night That reared its ugly head as well And you wonder You wonder Could Houston be a candidate For De'Aaron Fox We have information on that as well And we'll get to it But let's keep our focus On Memphis And as I was watching that game And as the time started

[00:04:07] To dwindle down And It was Apparent that Jaron Jackson Jr. Was going to take over this game Along with Desmond Bain Shouts out to our guy TCU's own Desmond Bain You know how much we love him here On Front Runner Podcast Collective Those are One of our OG guys Damn near friend of the podcast Damn near As I was sitting there Watching this game

[00:04:36] I was thinking like I don't understand why Jimmy Butler doesn't want to go to Memphis As far as his mentality is concerned As far as well What kind of player he is He seemed to fit the mold Of what a Memphis Grizzlies would be And It got me To think down a rabbit hole Now Butler has been Adamant about going to Phoenix Some of the other fits

[00:05:05] And some of the other names That you hear out there Are The Warriors Who look like They're Back in They were out Now they're back in And we're going to talk a little bit about Some of the difficulties with that And who might be pulling that string And that's later in the podcast And you got the Rockets Who definitely Last night showed That they needed somebody In crunch time That could run And then Houston

[00:05:34] Definitely showed In crunch time That they needed someone To run their crunch time offense Now Alcour and Shang-Goon Was not there last night So Your Person at the nail That could Basically run your Half court offense Was not there And get everybody In their proper position But Having a Jimmy Butler Would also help So There are two candidates Right there And then obviously The Suns They're just

[00:06:04] They are desperate for More talent More front end talent And however they can Acquire that They will try to do Anything and everything Matt Ispia Is a complete maniac We love him Because It's never a dull moment In the Valley of the Sun With all that being said Why is this something That makes sense For the Memphis Grizzlies It's a long

[00:06:35] I don't know It's like New England Patriots With their wide receiver core Certain teams Just can't find Like First basemen In Major League Baseball And the Memphis Grizzlies Have had a hard time With the small Forward Position Or if you want to call it Modern day Swing position The three position However you want to call it And obviously Jimmy Butler Would fit that role To a tee He would give them The defensive

[00:07:05] Tenacity That you would want He would also Provide Some Clutch scoring Because he's been In incredible battles All throughout NBA finals And Eastern Conference Finals Type situations Pressure Packed situations He's been in Most Of his career And then the Grizzlies Actually have the package They have The expiring contracts That Miami Would want They have the picks That they Would be able to

[00:07:34] Give to Miami They have All of the things That If they were In a sense Deemed Worthy Jimmy Butler They have All the things That you would want To be able to Get him Which makes it Really weird That he would Want to go there What makes this Plausible Jimmy Butler Is a really High level Competitor

[00:08:02] Memphis is Typically Not a Destination For free agents So I can see Them going After somebody Like this Taking a gamble All I like Really I'm going Way back In the day For a lot Of the youngsters But The Sacramento Kings Back in the day Before they were Absolutely terrible They did this With Chris Weber Chris Weber Did not want To go To Sacramento And then he Ended up going

[00:08:31] And everything's History There are people Who are Sacramento Kings fans That still think The 2001 One championship Is theirs Even though It's not So taking a gamble Like this is Something that Memphis Could do Now the other Thing with this Is that They do have Some pieces Some young Pieces that They've been Developing And I don't Know how they Feel about That talent

[00:09:01] If it's ever Going to come To fruition Of what it Could in Actuality be But here is A guy that Is ready Made And if you Are having Aspirations to Really contend In the west And really be That team That's going to Give OKC Everything that Is going to Need to Handle Having a Grizzled Veteran Like Jimmy Butler Who when Motivated

[00:09:30] Is one of the Most fierce Competitors In this league And he can Tune it up When he is Locked in And I think That a chance To chase a Ring Would give him That opportunity To lock in And do this But Jimmy has said That he doesn't Want to go to Memphis With that being Said What could Memphis do If they're not Going to do That

[00:10:00] Are they going To do anything I personally Think that This is a time Where the Memphis Grizzlies Should really Look around And make Some choices They have Luke Kennard On their team For a couple Years And Luke Kennard Was supposed To solve A lot of Their spacing Issues Now Luke Kennard Is a Phenomenal Three point Shooter The one Thing about It is It doesn't Show up At the right Times And you Critically Need that

[00:10:30] Part of it And I Think if They If you Can get Off Luke Kennard's Contract And maybe Get cam Johnson Into the Mix The huge Upgrade For the Memphis Grizzlies And I think Anytime That you Can diversify The offense And you Can bring Somebody in Like cam Johnson I think You're Helping Your team The other Thing is The grizzlies Already Have A

[00:10:59] Trade Rapport With the Brooklyn Nets They were In on The Dorian Finney Smith Deal Make No Mistake About This They Haggled Over A First Round Pick And Protections So Brooklyn And Sean Mark Said To Hell With It We'll Take The Lakers Three Second Rounders And Shed Dorian Finney Smith Off To The Lakers So You Can Still Revisit And Say Okay It Didn't Work Out Between The Dorian Finney Smith

[00:11:29] Deal Go Back And Career Shooter But He Is Limited On Defense Now You Have Some Bigs And You Have Some Wings That Maybe Can Cover

[00:11:59] Him Up Obviously You're Not Trying To Win Anyway So Luke Kennard Is A Ancillary Piece Maybe You Peddle Him Off In Another Deal And Accrue More Picks Plausible All These Things Are Plausible If The Grizzlies Decide That They Are Going To Go Big Game Hunting And Go After Butler Luke Kennard Also Fits That Bill As Well You Also Have Marcus Smart's Deal And

[00:12:29] I Want To Bring This Up Is That Marcus Smart From Reports That Worked Worked He Hasn't Been Able To Stay On The Court He Hasn't Been Able To Provide The Veteran Leadership That They Thought They Were Going To Get And It

[00:12:59] Just Might Be Now From The Reports That I Getting Is That Marcus Smart Is A Piece That Memphis Is Willing To Move Off Of

[00:13:29] To Accentuate The Team That They Have Right Now I Guess We Now Need To Get Into The Darren Fox Of It All Alright Here's The Latest Of What I'm Hearing Sacramento Is Listening To Offers For Fox Making Him The Jewel Of This Year's Trade Deadline Sorry Cam Johnson You Used To Be The Bell Of The Ball You Are No Longer The Bell Of The Ball All Hail Darren Fox

[00:13:58] He's Under Contract Through 2026 At 34.8 Million Dollars That's Very Important In This Situation San Antonio Is Rumored To Be Fox's Top Choice Destination But Sacramento Aims To Build A Broader Market To Their Return Here's The Thing There Are Three Or Four Teams That Are In This Mix

[00:14:27] Orlando Surprisingly New Orleans I Found That Very Surprising To Folks Houston Is Not In I Want To Repeat That Houston Rockets Are Not In On De'Aaron Fox Because Of Fred Van Vliet Fred Van Vliet Is A A Favorite Member Of The Team

[00:14:57] He Is Favorite By Ownership For An Office He Was A Culture Setter A Couple Years Ago They Love Him They Are Thinking About There's A Team Option On His Contract Next Year They Want To Go Ahead And Kill That And Then Extend Him For Another Two Or Three Years And Bring Down The Salary Because They Got Him Because They Overpaid When He Came Over From Toronto Before But Now

[00:15:26] That They Have Him They Really Enjoy Him And He Was A Non-starter He Was A Non-starter When It Came To The D Aaron Fox Trade Situation So Houston Fans Sound Off On At Raya Underscore Funch FRPC Let Us Know What You Think About Fred Van Vliet Being So Integral

[00:15:56] To What The Structure And The Culture Is In Houston And He Was Not He Only 27 Years Of Age So He Just Hit His Prime He Has Incredible Speed I Still Think

[00:16:26] That Maxie Might Be The Fastest Guard In The League Dillingham The Only Reason I Don't Give It To Dillingham Is That Dillingham Doesn't Play Enough He Might Be The Fastest Guard From End To End With The Ball Excuse Me Trade Rumors Have Got Me To Sneeze Man He Is One Of The Fastest Guards In The League And He Is A Great Clutch Performer

[00:16:56] De Aaron Fox Has Been One Of The League Leaders In Crunch Time Performance Over The Last Three Years Go Look The Numbers Up That's What I Was Doing At 1 30 In The Morning Looking Up Crunch Numbers Crunch Time Numbers Crazy Why Is This Something That De'Aaron Fox Wants Well It's Real Simple Victor Wing By Yama Is The Reason Why He Wants This I Will Want

[00:17:26] Somebody Who Was Seven Foot Four Who Has Incredible Skills Who Looks Like He Is Going To Be The Face Of The League For The Next 13 To 15 Years Yeah I Would Love To Hitch My Wagon To That So I Understand His His Thought Cross Through The Whole Situation Is Get On It Before Others Really See What This Guy Is All About And Then My Doors Close Because

[00:17:55] Let's Be Honest Darren Fox Is A Very Good Guard He's A League Guard But Is He An Elite League Guard He Might Be Like Just A Step Below Because If He Wasn't The Elite Guard That He Thinks Of Himself To Be I Think Sacramento Will Be In A Little Bit Better Place Than Where They Are Right Now Just Being Honest But The

[00:18:25] Talent Upgrade And Having Darren Fox On San Antonio And Giving Victor Wing By Yama Somebody Who Is Such A Viable Piece That You You Gotta Stick With Darren Fox This Is A Guy Who Is A 25 Point A Game Scorer This Is Real Production Coming To San Antonio Spurs And Is Every Single Night It's Only Going To Make Darren Fox Better And It's Only Going To

[00:18:55] Make Victor Win Yama Better So Personally I Understand Understand Why These Things Are Starting To Happen And The Trade Winds Are Soiling We Going To Get To The Baseline Bust In The Baseline Bust We Need To Talk About Zach Levine And What's Going On With Him The Bulls Are Open To Moving Zach Levine Partly To

[00:19:29] Here Are Some Of The Stats And The Things That You Need To Keep In Mind He Is 29 Years Of Age So He Is Right In That Mid Prime Area He's Averaging 24 Points A Game 4.8 Rebounds A Game And 4.5 Assists He's Shooting 51.4 Percent From The Field And He's Shooting And Just An Outrageous 45 Percent From Three He's Also Hitting

[00:19:59] 81.6 Percent Of His Free Throw To Chip In That Too As Well He's A On And Off Ball Threat His Defense He Needs To Have Strong Defense Behind Him To Make Him Very Usable As A Complete Offensive Weapon He's Allergic To The Defensive End Even Though He's Very Athletic And Agile Now The Sticking Point With Him Has Always Been His Contract

[00:20:29] It's 43.1 Million Dollars And It Runs Through 2027 With A Player Option Not A Team Option Player Option So You Know Who The

[00:20:59] Through To Picks Now When We Started The Season Out Zach Levine Was A Net Negative Asset Credit To Zach Levine For Keeping His Mouth Shut Going In There And Take Jimmy

[00:21:29] Butler Is In A Different Rarify Air Than Zach Levine They Are Two Different Tiers But I Think That If Butler Would Have Handled This A Little Bit Differently I Think We Would Have More Teams And Maybe A Little More Buzz Around What Jimmy Butler And Where He's Going Don't Get It Don't Get It Twisted There Are Still Teams Out There That Are Looking At Jimmy Butler But The Way They Look At Jimmy

[00:21:59] Butler Is A Little Bit Different Than How They Look At Some Of These Other Trade Targets Out There Now Some Of Teams That Are Looking At Zach Levine Denver Is Still In Miami Obviously Is In The Mix Orlando Is A Viable Option And Houston Is Also A Viable Option So We Will See How That

[00:22:29] Goes Golden State Also Seems To Which We Might Know The Reason Why We'll Tell You About That A Little Bit Later We're Going To Hit Cam Johnson And Where He Is Right Now Memphis Is On Him Indiana Is On Him The Lakers Low Key Are

[00:23:10] And Allow Some Of The Other Pieces To Fall Off Before He's Moved There Was A Point In Time That Cam Johnson He Was Going To Be The First Big Piece To Move And It's Funny What A Week Changes All The Perspective In The World Now We Move Along To Brandon Ingram And You Say Vince Nobody Wants Brandon Ingram Ha Ha That's Not True That Is Not True

[00:23:40] Houston Is In On Brandon Ingram The Clippers Are In On Brandon Ingram The Denver Nuggets Are In On Brandon Ingram So There Are Some Teams Who Are Out There Who Are Looking At Brandon Ingram And They're Trying To Figure It Out He Is The Rubik's Cube Of This Situation The Problem With Now Brandon Ingram Has Been Very Good This Year He's Put Up

[00:24:10] Really Good Numbers The Only Problem Is That We Still Want Him To Shoot More Threes And We We Want Him To Be A Little More Defensive Minded For The Athlete That He Is But If You Can Get Around Those Warts That's A 25 Point A Game Guy When Healthy If You Can Talk Yourself Into Brandon Missing 18 To 20 Games A Year But The Production Will Be There When He Is There

[00:24:41] And If You Were Thinking Of Him On A Level Of Maybe A Third Option If You Can Afford It Might Be A Way To Go Now His Teammate CJ McCollum I Feel Glad For Him Because CJ Is Always In Trade Rumors He Just Stays In Them Now CJ Is A Little More Tricky Because A Little More Age You Talk About Age 32 He Does Have A Decent

[00:25:10] Actually He Is Age 33 Excuse Me Now Hella Productive 22.4 Points A Game This Season So He Is He's Going To Get To That But He Is $33.3 Million Dollars Annually Through 2026 So Usually Going To Want Somebody Like CJ McCollum Is Going To Be A Veteran Lated Team They're Going To Want Somebody Who's Going To Be A

[00:25:40] Flamethrower Off The Bench But $33.3 Million Six Man That Is A Very Luxury Type Item He Might Be Really Hard To Move Unless You Chris Middleton Of The Milwaukee Bucks I Can Tell You Right Now He's Obed $31.6 Million

[00:26:09] Dollars Through 2026 He Is In His Age 33 Year 33 Year He's Averaging 12.6 Points A Game 4 Rebounds And 5 Assists In Limited Minutes But Here's The Problem Over The Last Couple Years Chris Middleton Has Slowed Down And I Was Begging The Milwaukee Bucks Over The Off Season To Trade Chris Middleton For A Couple Pieces To Add Depth To

[00:26:39] What They Had On Their Team They Refused To Do So They Said Chris Will Come Back After Duggle Ankle Surgery Mind You And He Will Be Back To Form One Of Us Was Right And It Looks Milwaukee Has Basically Is Showing Chris Middleton The Door

[00:27:30] So Detroit trumps them. Now, Detroit is going nowhere right now, and it's not because of the fact that ineptitude. No, they're doing very well. Kay Cunningham is an all-star. They're a playoff team right now. The problem is that with Ivy Hurd, they got some—they're still a year away. Getting another good lottery pick would help Detroit.

[00:28:00] They've shown us, hey, the future is bright here in Detroit, which if you turn back a calendar year, Detroit was the laughingstock of the NBA. So for the Washington Wizards fans out there who are having a tough year, look at the Detroit Pistons. Look at them. They're, what, a game over .500, playing great basketball.

[00:28:29] Everything's on the up and up. Looks like the front office got its stuff together, and now we're here, which is fantastic. So kudos to Trajan Langdon. Kudos to J.B. Biggerstaff, who got ousted in Cleveland, went over to Detroit, is doing Young's work. Bradley Bill. What's going on with Bradley Bill?

[00:28:57] Bradley Bill likes cash and paychecks. Bradley Bill. And he likes where he lives. So Bradley Bill has no incentive to waive his no trade clause. He has made it very clear, if I'm not going to a contender, I'm not going anywhere. So y'all figure that out. Oh, and by the way, I don't want to go to a cold climate city.

[00:29:27] So he's thrown down the gauntlet. So it looks like Bradley Bill, which is crazy. Because I've heard rumors, people on the ground have told me the fans do not want Bradley Bill there. Like the fans are just like, just go. Oh, like it's palpable in the crowd when he's on the court.

[00:29:56] They're making it uncomfortable for his children, which is stupid. Because his children have nothing to do with this. His wife also has nothing to do with this. It just so happens that his agent got him a really cool trump card when he was in Washington, which is that no trade clause.

[00:30:21] Now he's public enemy number one, where a year ago, this guy was the greatest thing since sliced bread. So now he doesn't want to waive his no trade clause, which I don't blame him. I live in Phoenix, Arizona. I made 40 plus million dollars a year. Weather's great. Kids like it out here. Why do I want to move?

[00:30:52] Just because the fans don't. I can just go to my big house at the end of the night and just hold up there. Now, dinner reservations in the Phoenix area for him might be a little tough. But quick flight to Vegas. Jump on a flight to Vegas. 30 minutes there, 30 minutes back. Have a cool little dining experience. There's workarounds.

[00:31:19] So I know Phoenix fans are probably really upset with me right now. My guy getting real comfortable in Phoenix. But y'all gonna have to show him something for him to leave. Because he is the house guest that never wants to leave. It's all good. The accommodations are great here. Now, a name that just popped up on our register is Bogdan Bogdanovich. Now, I know it's not the same guy from three, four years ago.

[00:31:50] But as a Laker fan, I've been wanting Bogdan Bogdanovich forever. And he's now on the market because he's often injured. He's 32 years of age. His salary is still good. It's 17.2 million. And he's shooting. He's a 33. He's a 38% career shooting three-pointers. He has a ton of big game experience.

[00:32:17] The problem is that his shooting is down this year. But he's had limited playing time. And my sources are telling me that the reason why he's not playing right now has nothing to do with an injury. But they're just saving him until they can trade him. The hamstring injury or whatever that's on the report basically is... There might be a little soreness there because he's sitting on the bench.

[00:32:47] He hasn't gotten warmed up. Bruce Brown is still in Toronto as of right now. He's got a ton of money. $23 million on his contract, which is the last year. The Lakers want him. Denver wants him. Golden State wants him. But Toronto keeps asking for these crazy prices like first-round draft choices.

[00:33:13] So when Toronto becomes realistic with their asking price, Bruce Brown will get traded. Simple as that. Colin Sexton in Utah is also a guy who is on the trading market. And it is believed that the Jazz are looking for a late first-round pick for a team that needs shot creation.

[00:33:43] So the Magics, the Pistons, the Rockets, the Clippers are rumored fits for him. But Lonzo Ball for the Chicago Bulls. We're doing this rapid fire because we've got so much to get to. Now, obviously Lonzo has the injury-marred history. The one thing that Lonzo has on the plus side is that he is 6'6".

[00:34:11] He is an excellent three-point shooter. When healthy, he's a really good defender. He's an excellent passer, a connector type person. And if you can get 20 valuable minutes of Lonzo Ball, he might be worth it to you on the really good teams. He's still 27. His impact is a positive 9.5 net rating when he's on the court.

[00:34:41] Now, Detroit is rumored for him with possible second-rounders as compensation. Now, a name that has popped up of late is Robert Williams III and John Collins. People still want John Collins? I didn't know. He makes $26.6 million a year. He doesn't give you any rim protection whatsoever.

[00:35:10] He's not really switchable. He's a tweener. It's really hard to get excited. And I was a real big fan of John Collins. The only problem is that the jump shot never really came back to really where it needed to be for him to be a rotation, like a rotation regular guy, where you can give him 28 minutes and say, hey, go out and do your thing.

[00:35:40] But Robert Williams is intriguing because he's still only 27. He's an elite defensive big. He averages 1.6 blocks in 16.7 minutes a game. So he's almost at two blocks a game in a little under 17 minutes. Now, he's historically injury-prone. You're going to have to play him like limited minutes.

[00:36:10] So I think if Portland comes down on the asking price, he can be got. He can be got. Now, I'll tell you a guy who should be getting a lot more love on this market, and this is Anthony Simons. Now, Anthony Simons is a guard out of Portland. And you say, Vince. Portland needs talent. Why are you trying to get rid of talent?

[00:36:38] Because Anthony Simons wants to be a point guard. He wants to be a starting point guard. I see him more as a sixth man on a really good team. But if he was going to have a chance at being a starting point guard, he needs to go out and get that. Because Scoop Henderson in Portland is coming. And Shaden Sharp is the best player on that team. Let's make no mistake about that.

[00:37:06] I understand that DeAndre Ayton makes the most money, or Jeremy Grant makes the most money, one of those two. Anthony Simon makes a lot of money. But the future of the Portland Trailblazers is Shaden Sharp. What makes Simons very attractive? Two things. One, he is controllable for the next two years. He is an explosive scorer.

[00:37:35] This is like a long-range assassin. The problem is that his defense is not very good. And you're going to have to surround him with defensive wings and defensive swings to cover up his deficiencies. But the offense, the playmaking, the floor spacing that he's going to give you makes up for the lack of defense.

[00:38:05] And if you have a really good defensive team, you can hide him. Which then takes us to one of the great segments of our podcast, which is Around the Arc. And we are in the Pacific Division. And we're going to spend a little time with the Sacramento Kings. And what's going on with them? Kings drama is always good drama to have. Because we got two things going on. We got Darren Fox saying,

[00:38:34] I've never requested a trade. We got, we find out that the Kings have initiated trade talks with other teams. They don't want to hear it anymore. It's okay, you want out? Peace. And then there was a story in The Athletic that said that the Sacramento Kings front office knew more than a year ago that Darren Fox was less than 50-50

[00:39:03] on signing the extension. So they thought that by, and this was after their really good season, where they were the, what, the number three overall team in the West or whatever. And then they got ousted early. So in the middle of the season last year is when they knew that Darren Fox was looking for greener pastures. They tried to do things to upgrade, to appease him.

[00:39:33] But he was already, in a sense, one foot out the door. They tried everything to make it better. And it's come to this. This is where we are. Now, if Darren Fox wants to leave, what happens to the rest of the Sacramento Kings? What happens to that fan base up there? Light the beam, all of that. What happens? Well, let's get into it. Sam Amick, senior writer

[00:40:03] of The Athletic, The Kings and the San Antonio Spurs have had many discussions on Darren Fox trade possibilities. League sources confirm that the Spurs are Fox's preferred destination. However, as Amick details, there is a potential snag. And that snag is Stephon Castle. The rookie guard out of Yukon is the apple

[00:40:32] of Sacramento Kings' eye. and the Spurs and Brian Wright are saying, no, no, no. We are not giving up Stephon Castle. Pick from these other people. We are not giving up Stephon Castle. But there's skepticism in the NBA circles that San Antonio is willing to part with Castle. We just gave you that.

[00:41:01] If Castle is off the table, the Kings must decide if there's another path to a deal. And as Amick notes, the Spurs might wait until the offseason to simplify their roster building rather than rushing to a trade now. It's no secret that the Kings covet Castle because he's a 6'5", playmaking wing. He has skill. He can't shoot yet, but a lot of

[00:41:31] people compared him, basically called him a bigger De'Aaron Fox coming out of college. This is the reason why. But the thing about this is that he's valuable to the San Antonio Spurs, and Victor went by Yama like soon. So I don't think he's going anywhere. So you know, they're going to have to figure out this deal without that. Let's talk about some of De'Aaron Fox's numbers. He is. Fox has consistently posted positive offensive offensive box

[00:42:01] plus minus his impact on the game. He's a top 20 guard in the league in that category over the past two years. His defense is one of those things that is going to suffer. He gets lost in picking roles. He's not very big as far as certain, but having Victor win by Yama and Jeremy Sohan, if Jeremy Sohan is not part of the trade, having guys like that behind him

[00:42:31] will help him tremendously. Fox's overall BPM reflects a net positive impact. His win shares are in a steady climb as well. And then again, De'Aaron Fox is one of the best clutch performers in the league. He won the award two years ago. He was runner-up last year and he would provide a very consistent productivity

[00:43:01] that the San Antonio Spurs haven't had since Kawhi Leonard left. With that being said, what happens to the rest of the team? I'm glad you asked this question. DeMar DeRozan went to Sacramento to team up with De'Aaron Fox.

[00:43:43] De'Aaron Fox, Demondis, Sabonis, Malik Monk. Those were the core guys that made it easy for me to make my decision to play here. Now, a key juggernaut in Fox, not knowing that the future of that, it does make it tough for me. I don't have much time left and I'm not trying to play for another five years. So, my man might be looking for out too.

[00:44:12] Okay, De'Aaron Fox walks out the door. DeMar DeRozan is not too far behind him. Do we get rid of all the D's? We got De'Aaron Fox, we got DeMar DeRozan, we got Demondis Sabonis, do we just have a fire sale in Sacramento? What the hell is going on? DeMar DeRozan is on the record saying that he's not planning to stick around indefinitely if the core

[00:44:42] is joined and starts to unravel he has two more years left on his contract with a second year partially guaranteed if Fox leaves the King will have to worry about DeMar DeRozan's buy-in and by extension Demondis as well. So, there's going to be a lot of questions to answer in Sacramento and if DeMar DeRozan doesn't want

[00:45:11] to be there Sabone is signed but we all know that once you sign the contract you can still ask for out. I wonder if we're going to get to a point where this was the thread that unravels the whole thing in Sacramento and do the great people of Sacramento have to start all over again. that fan base just got to the playoffs two years ago after a 16

[00:45:41] year absence things were on the up and up and now we're here. Tough one for Phoenix, tough one for Sacramento, tough for Monty McNair because I think he's made some right moves. I did not agree with the Demantis bonus extension. I think you could have used some of that those resources right then and there to make some marginal or incremental upgrades to the team at that point.

[00:46:10] But other than that Monty McNair has really turned around their franchise and to see it be this tenuous to a situation where it could all blow up. Pretty damn sad. Let's move on to Phoenix because Phoenix and their ownership group they are full stealing head. It is just nothing it's all gas no breaks in Phoenix. Phoenix

[00:46:40] has been relentless in their roster building approach under owner Matt Ispia making bold often high risk moves in attempt to maximize their championship window with Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. This season they've already moved a coveted 2031 pick unprotected first pick to Utah for three lesser value first round picks in 2025 2027 and in 2029

[00:47:10] they also traded Josh Akogi who was a defensive wing for them for Nick Richards because Yusuf Nurkic was absolutely unplayable for them anymore and now Nurkic doesn't even talk to Mike Buden Hoser the head coach like things have just unraveled between Nurkic and Buden Hoser now Nurkic is being shot reportedly

[00:47:39] interest in Bogdan Bogdanovich the question is whether Phoenix can make another move how outside of the box will they think and can they get Jimmy Weller I don't know I have no idea but we're gonna find out let's talk about the some of the rumors that are going on right now okay with

[00:48:10] the Phoenix Suns their still primary mode of operation is to do everything in their power to get Jimmy Butler the problem is that they don't have the salaries to match up correctly to get him Bradley Bill has already said no I'm not going there or actually he would go there but Pat Riley doesn't want those contracts so that's a problem there will have to be a third team involved the problem

[00:48:39] is in Bill is not going to sign off on that's the big issue where do the Phoenix Suns pivot to who is that guy that they can go get that is the question is this the Brandon Ingram is this the oh what's behind door number two because I'm going to right now if Jimmy

[00:49:09] Butler is not in Miami and those three picks are still there on February 7th this is an absolute fail so a lot of pressure on our guy James Jones out in Phoenix we will see how this wraps up but right now they are not in the lead for Jimmy Butler even though that's where he wants to we

[00:49:41] have a week until the trade deadline so we'll see and then that leads us to the Clippers and the Clippers right now we really need to get into this miracle that has happened they look impressive right now but that's always the case every year this team gives us hope every year they pull the ultimate Lucy from the peanuts move holding the football just long

[00:50:11] enough to make us believe before yanking it away and watching us fall flat on our backs being hurt with some undisclosed injury and we had he's in parts unknown and we have no idea what's gonna happen and then we find out oh he's out for the rest of the year Steve Ballmer the owner of the Clippers Lawrence Frank who is the president of player personnel

[00:50:41] of the Los Angeles Clippers they have lived this they have seen Kawhi Leonard go through this cycle again and again Kawhi rehabs in solitude Kawhi comes back optimism skyrockets then nagging knee injury stops everything cold and yet here we are the Clippers have won seven out of their last ten they are sitting six in the west and last night Kawhi

[00:51:10] put up 27 points which is a season high seven assists and they beat the brakes off the spurs 128 to 116 and I'm going to ask the question again are they going to suck us back in again are they going to do it to us again our guy Vance our guy Law Murray of the athletic he's already in

[00:51:41] he loves it Michael Pena of the ringer absolutely loves Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers so they're bought in Clippers beat right along Murphy had a great breakdown on NBA Daily where he explains why this version of Kawhi feels different so this is according to Law Murray tonight Kawhi just took the square of soul

[00:52:11] he did it in the third quarter to build the lead and then in the fourth quarter he came back and jacked it up even more then for good measure he emptied his tank in the final minute and helped Harden get to 20 points that made four Clippers with 20 plus points or more what's fun about this is Kawhi isn't just surviving games he's thriving this is a complete basketball

[00:52:41] he's not just scoring he's making the right passes he's spacing the floor taking defensive assignments and this is the Kawhi Leonard we've always seen where he's at his best okay the other thing too is that Kawhi looks really quick he looks very spry it looks like the clock has been turned back for Kawhi I want to believe I

[00:53:11] really do because Kawhi makes the league better the only thing about it is that knee has always given him issues but we can only deal with what we can deal with at this present time and

[00:53:43] keep in mind he's on a 28 minute restriction he can't play more than 28 right now the doctors have not allowed him more than that so 27 points in 28 minutes against the Spurs 23 points in 28 minutes against the Suns 20 points 6 assists 2 steals against the Bucks 24 points 6 rebounds 5 assists against the Wizards probably

[00:54:13] the most impressive is the 21 points 5 assists against the Celtics keep in mind 28 minute restriction is it different this time I still don't know history tells us not to believe in this there's always stretches where Kawhi goes out and looks great and then the knee gets bulky and then we go through this again

[00:54:43] but they are protecting him and he looks a lot thinner than he was before so maybe he took off a little bit of weight that will take away from some of the I don't know the stress on his knees and things of that nature and we can get to a point where we can have Kawhi in the playoffs I don't know Clipper fans let us know hit us up on Blue Sky at Frontrunner PC or hit our producer up at FRPC

[00:55:13] hyphen Rhea dot BSky dot social Jimmy Butler to Golden State is this something that could happen I have been told that right now Golden State is one of the teams that is highly pursuing Jimmy Butler but there's some hesitations Steph Curry and Steve Kerr aren't sold

[00:55:43] Golden State initially backed away from Butler but with Miami lowering their asking price they're reconsidering however multiple sources including the Athletics Anthony Slater by the way go read Anthony Slater Athletic he is great when it comes to Golden State Warriors basketball I love a lot of his stuff and the ringers Kevin O'Connor are actually Yahoo's Kevin O'Connor report that Steph Curry himself

[00:56:13] has reservations about Butler in the locker room and his potential fit Kerr reported shares the same concerns you think this has a lot to do with Draymond Green and the combustibility of Draymond and Jimmy Butler in the same locker room or could it turn into like a real cool version of step brothers with Will

[00:56:43] Farrell and John C. Riley could those two dudes meet in the middle of the floor and say at the count of three what is your favorite dirty tactic to do on the NBA court and they go count to one two three hit somebody in the nuts did we just become best friends and then Jimmy Butler goes yup and they go do activities and they go running over the staff and say can we build bunk beds so

[00:57:13] we can have more room for activities that could happen Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green could be on the same team could you imagine you imagine but that would piss Phoenix off now here's here's other thing that I want to put a damper on this I think cooler heads will prevail in Golden State I think unless Jimmy Butler goes for some astronomically

[00:57:43] low price Golden State won't bite I think they have their eyes on a Kevin Durant reunion in the summertime if this thing does not go well in Phoenix if for some reason Phoenix is not able to get Jimmy Butler they're not able to make good on some of the plans they

[00:58:23] thing that we can talk about is Lakers and what is going on with them of the athletic this is what he's talking about this is what's going on teams around the NBA consider Gabe Vincent as a negative value also Rui Hachimura is at best considered a neutral value but no one considers him a positive asset so you're going to have to attach picks to

[00:58:52] them if you want to rid yourself of them okay Gabe Vincent makes basically 11 million a year our guy Rory makes 17 here's some of the obstacles that the Lakers are dealing with right now it's not a strong market for either Vincent or Hachimura the Lakers some for from what we their

[00:59:22] 20 29 and their 20 31 first round picks at this time Palenka has moved to targeting smaller moves rather than major ones the Lakers do have interest in Bogdan the potential deal would be Dave Vincent Jalen Hood Shifino and one more veteran minimum salary player and that destination is unclear

[00:59:51] now the thing with that is what would you be getting with Bogdan Bogdanovich you're gaining six more inches or actually I'll he might be a little bit better playmaker he's going to be a better shooter than Gabe Vincent he's not going to give you the on ball pressure that Gabe Vincent gives you on the defensive end he is not a defensive

[01:00:21] stalwart he's okay marginal but not this Lakers need on ball pressure DFS was a half measure you need to go ahead and full measure this deal Rob you can't be half assed in this go

[01:00:50] in or go or don't go in at all but you've already gone in you got Dorian Finney Smith finish it Ron James and if Anthony Davis wants a big go out and get one figure this out because you're going to have some people really pissed off at you now here

[01:01:20] is a couple other things that have passed through our our filter now that Jalen Johnson is hurt in Atlanta Clint Capella could be on the move now he's had a brutal season so far he's shooting 37% from the field and he is just basically he's a rim running big he blocked shots he's not as

[01:01:50] dynamic as he was a couple years ago he used to have this tremendous pick and roll situation with Trey and also with James Harden and that seemed to they were looking for big that somebody they can go get and they probably could go get with relative ease as far as pick asset situations Atlanta is in a real precarious position because

[01:02:20] their pick is Utah's quick so they can't just go out and bomb the season so they're still trying to stay competitive so if you were able to do like a Rui deal and maybe you can pawn off Gabe Vincent maybe you can do a bigger deal and get like Clint Capella and Bogdan Bogdanovich that would solve one

[01:02:50] problem it would also solve one other problem for you because we have told you for weeks that LeBron James is a power forward Rui Hachimura is also a power forward DFS should be playing next to LeBron then if you have Bogdan Bogdanovich he goes to the bench Matt Christie stays in the starting lineup your starting lineup is now Austin

[01:03:19] Max DFS LeBron AD when he comes back then you got Clint Capella coming off the bench happy days for AD you also got Bogdan Bogdanovich and you roll you know what I'm get some let's do this let's do something instead of sitting in purgatory because this sucks I hate this

[01:03:50] alright with that being said I think we have gotten to the end of the show don't forget to follow us on social media at x at frontrunner pc and also at rea underscore funch frpc make sure you go to our youtube page go to the community section there's a lot of polls up there answer them we need your feedback we're also going

[01:04:20] through a little technology change hopefully through this weekend the technology change will be over and we will be fully mac enthralled everything will be mac and I will be grateful for that transition to be over with go to our website which is frpc dot podcast page dot io and on our page you will see

[01:04:49] what we're all about you will get all the clips on youtube you will get all the podcasts all the archive podcasts you get all of those the other thing that you'll get is our

[01:05:51] about the trade rumors where we think people are going to go and then on thursday once the dust is settled and cleared and we have a bunch of egg on our face because we made a bunch of mistakes on wednesday no hopefully we won't but if for some reason we do hey things happen well then we'll come back with some clarity we will have all the moves we will know what has happened we will also be

[01:06:21] able to tell you why things didn't happen and sometimes that might be more important than the things that did happen so with that being said the best part of you is you surround yourself with genuinely people who are supporting you that are just going to be additive to your life show those people who exhibit those behaviors some appreciation and then go out and do some good in this world

[01:06:48] and hopefully we'll see you on this feed on monday goose you