Lamelo Ball Trade to Minnesota

This is the Locked On Podcast Network celebrating ten years of your team every day . What if this magical feeling could follow you everywhere? From vac ations at Disneyland Resort in Hawaii and beyond. Learn more at DisneyVacationClub. com. This is a tonshare solicitation and all offer registration requirements have been met some benefits require additional eligibility think particles separately. Out here when you see a pilot , you don't hesitate because right now you can get chicken tenders, potato wedges, and a doctor pepper for just eight bucks. Pilot and flying jay. See out here. Available at participating locations from may fifth to june thirtieth, twenty twenty six, Terms Apply Seas Store for detail . I'm Casey Viera. This is an awesome time to be a San Antonio Spurs fan because there's new guys in town . They're happy about being here and we're still somehow at the end of the day finding ways to be skeptical about this team in a time where Devin Brown likes to say we're always right. We're always right this summer . I'm Matthew Tynan. I thought you were going to say there's all these happy guys in town. They're glad to be here and for some reason we're going to talk again about the guy who really didn't want to be here so much that he had to go to Canada and then to the ou tothern s Calif ornia , we got to talk about them, my guess. And I'm Devin Brown. Welcome to the new Spurs. And Matty, bring up a good point in Casey, we got to discuss this. One of the old spurs might come back . Let's discuss that and more. Thanks for joining us. Let's get to it. This is Locked On Spur Squad Show. The twice a week show where spurs top gets real. No filters, no flock . Just raw take, sharp opinions, and straight up, passion for the game. The way only locked on podcast network knows how . Let's drop some dimes and squat up. The Spur Squad show starts now . It's been great so far just getting to interact with the community even at the airport, you know, seeing people again who watch the draft, knowing that I'm going to be a part of their organization, seeing the love that they have for basketball here has been an honor. It's been a great experience so far. I've really enjoyed it. Playing right into our sentiment. Welcome into the Spurs squad show right here on lockdown spurs. Of course, part of the lockdown podcast network, the number one sports podcast network in the world. You of course Matthew Tinan host the title pod man in the middle, right of your screen NBA champion Devin Brown. My name is Casey Bierra. A lot to hit on, a lot to hit on. You see it right there because introduction day for the rookie class, everyone feeling good about those vibes , not particularly as much with Cohai Leonard, that to be determined. A report today perhaps suggesting a reunion might be in store . Big trade also in the league this afternoon this morning with Lamello Ball going to Minneapolis . Does that have a residual impact on the San Antonio Spurs? We'll talk about that in a little bit more as the program rolls on, but yes, like I alluded to Rookie introduction day for San Antonio for the Rooks for young players coming into town. Of course, Jaden Caitlin, you saw him off top terrace. Read big fella from Yukon to second rounders taken yesterday, Jakobi Gillespie Malik Brown, all of course feeling good about life again , meeting the new city again , but also talking big time aspirations to the future, much like Quaintances did earlier today Just be that all star level player , just being the best version of myself that I feel like I can be and showing that I maximize whatever potential I have. And there's a lot of expectation that goes along with it. So we'll start with you Tynan, since you were there, Devin Hop in the middle, your overall impressions what you saw today and your overall impressions of this twenty twenty six class and the SPR's decision making as a whole. Yeah, you know, these rookie intro pressers are really like kind of these big welcome parties, you know , you're not you're not really digging down and there's a lot we're going to be learning about these dudes going forward. It's all very new . But I think the one thing and San Antonio has always been really, really good at this even in the as the we've moved into the new era and Devin can attest to this like high character guys are important and I think that there is an element on one hand where you have guys like Jaden Aquintons . We got to talk to those guys a little bit after the first round of the draft via Zoom . So we got to know them a little bit better than like we haven't had a chance to talk with Gillespie or Brown until today . But you have kind of two different ends of the spectrum. One of them being , you know, you have a guy like Aquaintance who is super young The only reason he didn't come out after his freshman year is because he was too young for the NBA draft. He was a reclassification . His freshman year at Arizona State should have been his senior season in Cleveland. I don't know the high school. I'm not sure exactly which high school he was at at that point, you know, these days you're kind of moving around a lot, right ? At the high school level when you're that kind of player, but ton seems to be a guy who will fit right in with some of the younger dudes on this team and I guess we'll have a fan in Viktor Wembinyama because this dude loves to read and play chess . Apparently he got to the he got to the practice facility today and decided he wanted to play chess this morning at the practice facility but it but I thought that it was a really interesting dichotomy there because when Terrace Reed comes up, he's speaking just really maturely talking about how along the way , in order for him to succeed as a player, he knew he had to embrace sort of the dirty work, the gritty stuff, being physical, setting screams, rolling, crashing the glass. He knew how he was going to be successful as a player not only at a major major college program , but a way for him to get into the league. So there's kind of on one hand the guy who is still curious and trying to figure himself out in Jade Aquaintance at only eighteen years old . On the other side of the spectrum, the guy that they drafted five picks later is a twenty two year old who will be twenty three before the season starts and this is a guy who knows himself a lot more what he's good at , how he's going to fit in with a team that has a bunch of stars around him like the Spurs do. So I just thought that the early impressions were pretty interesting and also just kind of the perfect fits. They seem like spurs guys and all four of them today talked about what it was like be coming into that building and Malik Brown in particular said you see Tim Duncan and Mon te Jinobi , you know, in the building there when you get there and it's like yeah, there's something special about this place Fun fact Matt and I have it queued out Malik Brown right here. The first thing I definitely realized when I first got here just seeing especially seeing Tim and Mono are here earlier this morning just showing the relationships they have with the past teams and just showing how they always come back and just show them faces . There you go. I had to cue up. I figured that was too good. I just want to get in there. Sorry, David. Yeah, go ahead . Yeah. Yeah, from the from the player's perspective, day one, you want to come in Um , you know, introduce yourself to everybody . Not everybody is going to be familiar with your you will have fans . It's awesome, you know, always the first time I walked in the door, Dave Robinson was there So yeah , when it hits you like okay, I'm with the San Antonio Spurs and you know their history and the importance of what it is that they're trying to do . You got to make sure that you make a good impression, but ultimately that's going to come on the basketball court. These guys should be excited. This organization's moving back in the direction of what it was the, you know, that made the San Antonio spur. So they should be , you know, excited about what's ahead of them. Now one of the things that you're also thinking of and I know that you know they both were, you know, dressed up with the collared golf shirts on , but you're actually you actually as a player you',re like, okay , who's in front of me, right ? You know, acquaintance, he's going to be out for a little bit, but he'll see it . But the other one read is very interesting because if I'm him , you know, I go , man, if I have Cordinette in front of me and I know what I bring to the table and I know what it is that he brings to the table, let's go out and go after him. So as a player, you definitely want to look at the depth chart and go after the guy that's in front of you. Now the guard situation, I know they got a young guard coming in . That's different . You got guards that can play with San Antonio. You got a veteran guard that's looking to redeem himself from last year . So his road to getting out there and getting in is going to be a little bit more difficult, but for Mr. Reed , as long as he's not looking at Wimby, look at Courtney and the others, you'll be fine . I would say generally speaking, not eyeing Wemby's position now. That wouldn't be a smart thing. Yeah, probably not a smart thing and all in all really an exercise of futility. I think what I really like about this class is that you get a whole bunch from the Blue Bloods. Kentucky, Yukon, Tennessee, which has really kind of established credibility over the past few years. Oh yeah, of course. And of course Duke. And especially when it comes to the back half guys as a whole, the ones who are twenty two years old, you know, acquaintances eighteen going on nineteen in a couple weeks, but the rest of those guys established multiyear players at college coming from Blue Bloods and as a result they have that little bit of something that maybe maybe a lot a lot of the younger players, the teenagers are missing. That idea of professionalism . We were if you joined us for the squad show on Tuesday after the draft our draft special, I thought Devin brought up a real interesting point because when you get to that like three, four year level with some of these heavyweight schools, it's almost like you're traveling as an NBA team and you get the idea of that professionalism right away . And I think that's what's probably most endearing to the latter three of those selections going into going and going forward. I thought this was interesting from today because Reid and Stefan Castle both Yukon guys, they did not play together Castle , of course, a rookie now, I guess now two seasons ago, reed transferred from Michigan after the first two years in Ann Arbor, but still the communication there. And I thought this is a pretty good bas eline for a situation coming into here. Yeah, he reached out but I definitely going to talk to him more but just knowing I got a got another fellow Yukon Husky to play to play alongside with this year is going to be pretty special. You know, definitely going to talk about some cool crazy funny heroly stories or just something that he went through that we both went through playing in that program. But yeah, just decided to get to get to play another husky. Devin, how much does something like that help? Well, I was leaning in trying to hear him. He had a mic in front of him, but I don't I couldn't hear him. So all I'm gonna say is he was he was comfortable knowing that Castle had reached out and he hit and Danny Hurley and I guess the three of them have that relationship can serve chair stories and whatnot. That's what you're like yeah yeah anytime you get a chance to play for one of the hurley someone from that family. I mean, you know, besides them being back crazy there's some they are man. Yeah, there's some really I mean, they, you know, basketball runs a long time from, you know, Hurley hitting that big shot and , you know, the great job they've done in the stops they've made as coaches . But yeah , so the emphasis and when you are a Brian Wright, you know defensively those guys aren't going to play for a Yukon or a Duke or anybody else if they're not locked in defensively. And I think that you know one of the things that kept Bryan up at night was how the Spurs were playing late in games in the middle of second quarters as far as defensively , not getting key rebounds, things like that. So that was an area that the Spurs address ed. I think with the two bigs they got in the first round , they really, you know, hit that area . And not to mention like , oh, by the way, it must have I didn't even think of this until now, but it must have really stung for Terrace Reed to lose to Michigan in the in the Championship game true. Yeah After transferring out of there , yeah. You know what helps Matt is that NIL I'm sorry going . Oh yeah, yeah. You know, I'm sure I'm sure it helps make the pillow a little softer at night. Now the other thing that I just want ed to point to like Devin's talking about defense and he's right. I think that we sort of we always focused on like certain areas of the game and like stretches of these games where the Spurs gave up leads and yada, yada, yada, but like the very like plain and simple of it was the like when Victor left the court and you talk about the bench units , the points that they were giving up and the sort of when you go from playing against that starting five for San Antonio and when they're locked in like they are so difficult to score on but once you start bringing the bench in, suddenly that defense just starts to kind of go down the drain a little bit. You don't want it to, but it kind of ended up being that way in a lot of cases . They went out in this draft every single one of these dudes plays defense. I mean you're taught we already have talked at Nauseum about acquaintance and reed, but Jacobi Gillespie accounted for twenty five percent Tennessee steals this season. He averaged two point two point two steals per game Malik Brown is just like he can play the four, the five . He can switch out onto anybody. He can play the small ball five , crazy quick hands . He came off the bench in almost average two steals a game and he can block shots. So like you're you're looking at a group of players all play defense and all play defense at a very high level with a very high motor. The spurs are not messing around when they say we are building our identity on defense . Tynan elaborate more on what Caintances was saying today about his recovery because it seems like it's very broad , but But one thing we do kind of know is that whether he plays next year or not, whatever capacity is it's going to take some time in getting back . Yeah, you know, I really don't want to speak too much of it on it because it seems like it's a little bit up in the air right now. Like I don't think they have a concrete decision like this guy just got into town. They're no doubt at this point if they if they haven't started already going to be doing all the medical stuff. They're going to be looking into all this. They're going to be consulting with this guy and this gal and and they're going to be going to doct ors offices and checking in with, you know, surgeons, you know, the whole nine . So I don't know exactly what we're looking at yet. I don't think , but I don't know. I don't think the Spurs know exactly what it is either. The only thing I can say at this point is that it is just highly unlikely that this guy is going to be at summer league. I think that this is going to be a while and if you if you listen can you kind of read between the lines a little bit it does as though Jaden is preparing for at least some sort of operation that's going to keep him out a little while. Again , don't know for sure and it doesn't sound like something where he'll you know have to like redshirt his rookie year like, the whole thing or anything like that. We'll see though . It just it is all pretty much pretty up in the air right now in terms of a timetable and like an exact approach to this injury right now but I will I will say real quick like they're not going to mess around if it's something that they got to that if the best option is to go, you know, stick them under a knife real quick get this thing done , they're going to do that. But right now the exact method they're going to be using to fix that knee , they're gonna do it. And he did show up by the way today in a full leg sleeve , like the kind of leg sleeve that you see them wearing like a compression leg sleeve under their basketball shorts. He showed up wearing one of those today. So definitely need definitely not doing too hot right now . Go ahead, Devin, I cut you off. You had a point . Oh yeah, I just wanted to mention his agent hadn't put that on . But going back to my original going back to my original point . I like everything that you're saying, Matt about these guys and it made me think of something . It was kind of band aid work when you're thinking about that second unit and and I'm doing and I'm saying this to protect cornet because I don't want Cornet getting a lot of this blame because as a cornet when you see three guys drafted . I don't want people thinking that oh you know they weren't happy with Cornet. What it is is when you think about Cornet being at the five he is a five but you need someone alongside him eighteen nineteen, twenty two that can go get rebounds. Cornetto go get the rebound in his radius . Now you have guys that can go get those long rebounds handle get us into transition where it doesn't put so much stress on our guards to come back. But what I think Mitchell was addressing is get these guys up the floor . If we can get a four slash three like you were saying, Matt, and we get these long rebounds, now we have an extra big that can handle kind of like Wimby being with the second unit to a certain extent and get up the floor and start offense further down the floor than waiting on Harper to start us underneath the basket. So when you said that it brought up a good point because when you think about Carter Bryant being an athletic being part of a that second unit and one of these guys Reed acquaintance, the other guy being at that four and athletic. Well now that second team is with Harper is starting to look really, really good . Yeah, and this is a team that over the last several years when they're talking about what they're looking for during their draft process, it's the guys who are multifaceted who can go grab the board and go. They're not like you said , they're not grabbing the board turning around looking for looking for the point guard. They're grabbing grabbing it off the glass and they're going and if there's nothing there reset, give it to Dylan give it and to Dear and give it to Steph whate ver, but but to your point, like the more guys that they can get who can grab and go, the better. And then on top of that, when you talk about Cornet , it's it's also the being able to put guys alongside him who can stretch out to the perimeter and guard in space. And so you're not you're not taxing Cornet in that way because Cornet is really good near the rim, but you said it. He's really good in his radius. It once he's got to stretch out a little bit beyond that radius, it gets a little dicey. And I think the acquisitions of these guys and and who knows what we're going to see, you know, once free agency starts on Tuesday or whatever it is, but but you're looking at a group that is now going to make life a lot easier on both Victor and on Luke Cornet . That's the politest way of saying one lacks lateral quickness . Okay man, you know, the biggest the biggest play of the postseason might have been that Luke Cornet chase down block he is exactly out of his ready to die . So pretty we got to give him credit. Yeah, we need to be damn quick for that. All right, it's funny that you were talking about boards because there was an old adage around these parts, Boardman gets paid. And ide about it at time yeah , yes . Kawaii Leard has since gotten very much paid . Where that money came from? Where yeah , you know where that came from? I'm not particularly sure . But what I am sure of is that there are some reports out there out there today that suggest that Kauai might be interested in a reunion back here in the Alamo City. We will explain coming up on the other side of the break, could a reunion be in store with the claw coming back to town. We will find out right here on the Spur Squad show on locked on Spurs. 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Listeners of this show going to get a seventy five dollars sponsored job credit to help get that premium status, that job listing up to a premium status, the one it deserves at indeed dot com slash podcast again indeed dot com slash podcast. As always, terms and conditions do apply. Need to hire. This isn't a job for indeed sponsored jobs . This is Tyler McCaff with Lockdown NBA Draft with No Cealance. Everyone talks about the top ten, but real difference makers often come later in the draft, players who deliver huge draft value. On this week's value board presented by State Farm, we're highlighting prospects projected outside the top ten who could make a major impact for their team. Because whether you're building your roster or protecting your home, the right fit at the right price can make all the difference. This week's value board presented by State Farm features Iowa point guard Bennett Sturts. Sturts' ability to stretch to the floor, make great decisions, play every second of every game and overall offensive versatility make him an incredibly easy fit in any rotation. That's this week's value board, presented by State Farm. State Farm is here to help you find the right coverage that fits your life and budget. Talk to a neighborhood state farm agent or go online to state farm. com to get personalized coverage that works for you . Also want to remind you friends at home if you haven't already, head on over to lockdown poedck onpodcast dot com forward slash every day or to get in on the Every Day or Club gets you at free audio, members only discord chats all built for the most loyal of Spurs fans like yourself. Locked on podcast locked onpodcast . com forward slash every day or I was going to say surprised that this is coming about this news on Kai Leonard , but maybe not , maybe not. I'm not particularly sure. I'm not particularly sure maybe somewhere in the middle, somewhere in the middle. But last night, Bobby Marks ESPN suggesting that Kohai is his fifty million dollars expiring contract at the end of twenty twenty seven could be looking to perhaps sign a new contract with one of his former teams . Really? There's only two former teams that you know of the Raptors and the Spurs, technically three because he was drafted by the Pacers. But in all likelihood, the Raptors or the Spurs. A report doubled down after that by Mark Stein and Jake Fisher as well Prompting the conversation , one that I post to you gentlemen right now , is the Kauai Leonard reunion worth the effort, Devin Brown . Man , now , you know, I remember the first time I laid eyes on him he was down he was we were we were practicing and he was down there doing something and and Tim walked down there and looked at him and he was like nah man we didn't get you for any of that and then to Kawai's credit, he turned into a mega superstar , you know, in the time he swim with the Spurs . You know, from the first time I saw him shooting threes now and the way he plays when you think about his game and when he's available and that's the key word right there available, he is outstanding. I've seen him not only against the spurs, he had a couple of big games against the spurs this year , but you've seen him in the past just take down golden state and team after team after team , but then there's the other side that you got to deal with when he's sitting out not available, kind of like running the show and superstars do that . But at the end of the day it's like man , that would it would be a key piece for San Antonio , but you're you're his game and where he is like how would that fit like how because Wimby , you know, obviously we want Wimby to have the basketball. Well Caway wants the basketball So like how are you going to work that in Mitch being that you know Mitch kind of wants to get up and down the floor. So you know for me it's great that he has interest in coming back here . I don't know if his uncle's maybe hopefully he doesn't come back, but in all seriousness , I don't know how he would fit in the Spurs would welcome him, yes, of course . But I don't know how that would fit in into the offense, Matt . Yeah , I also just want to point out the, you know, Casey said the real important part he's entering the final year of his contract . He wants to get paid There's this little thing called leverage and his camp is pretty at manipulating the terms of deals. I think that you could say he's under some fire for one particular deal that they struck up off the court I guess with a tree planting company I guess you could say they had aspirations of yes Yes. Yep, yes . Thank you, Casey. Yes. But you know, I think that this is one of those situations where like we know all along all he wanted to do was play in southern California. We know that and and perhaps there is an element to it where like one of the reasons he even lists and by the way let's just start from the top Bobby Marks threw that out there at the end of the draft . Jake Fisher came out with a report was strongly steered or I guess geared toward the Toronto side of things and Jake himself said I don't know anything from the Spur side of things. So this was very much like team names being thrown out there , almost assuredly being thrown out there by agency, by some around Kauai who is trying to get the point across like I want to get paid here as Casey said Boardman gets paid. He did just have a great season. He's an awesome player , but like the reality of the situation is like he's about to be thirty five years old aside from like changing your offense around and doing all the things that you would have to do to adapt to the Kai Leonard of it all and by the way that would mean like you're going to be slowing the pace down because Kai plays pretty slow. You are going to be taking the ball out of Wemby's hands D,ylan's hands, Steph's hands. You're going to I don't want to say they're going to like it would like curb development, but it's certainly not going to put those guys in like the go to you know, night in night out go to guy elements of the game that you want them areas where you want them to grow . But beyond that, like, why would you want to give up assets to bring a thirty five year old in even if and a guy by the way, yes, he had a really good year this past year again ahead of being extension eligible , but years before that like Devin said you, never knew when he was going to play. You got the stuff with his camp. You got the history that you know about with his camp and his uncle. Like why would you venture into that world again , especially when it would mean you'd have to give up assets for a guy on the back end of his career who in a couple of years more is going to have no value on the trade market if you're trying to move him when he 's thirty seven, thirty eight or something like that . And even if I throw in there the idea of like, well, you got Deren Fox and a lot of people want to trade De Aaron. Okay , but like even De Aron at this point in two years so long as he just doesn't fall off a cliff , like he's going to have trade value, especially as you get further and further out from the signing of his deal because you know the salary cap is going to go up. So suddenly the max contract that he just signed is not going to be a max contract and it's going to be even less less and less of one the more the years go by and and there's still an asset there, still an in his prime player who is theoretically, you know, someone you could deal in the coming years . And I just don't see that with Kauai. Like to me , if you're making a deal for Kauai , this is kind of the last landing spot and you are you're mortgaging a part of your future , which is something that they have been adamant about trying to maintain is their long term flexibility . And so if you do anything to bring him in, even if it's not like some outrageous deal just simply because of his age or he wants out or whatever leverage he might establish on his end , but you're still having to give something up and you're still sacrificing touches for your young guys to bring him in . And I just have not I heard a peep ever since I've been covering this team since he left San Antonio. There has every day that has gone by , it's never been anything other than that chapter is behind us . And so for there to be a reversal in course at this point , I would be flabbergasted if they traded for Koha Leonard . Well, here's what's what I find very interesting on that front with the chapters closed . Most of the hatred, the vitriol, it does not come from inside the four walls correctly spurs. It is everyone outside of that in this city , which I've always found interesting because it's not just one of those deals where like we respect him, moving on, didn't work out. It's the most dramaticized level of respect you'll ever see. And I say that after Pop gets on the mic and says stop booing this man. Well, and I do I do want to say something real quick sorry Casey, I'll kick it right back to you. Like Pop has always felt very strongly about Kauai and like Devin knows how pop is from a relationship standpoint and he always remained close to Kawai and always respected his decisions and all that stuff. I don't think that like there were some people in side those walls who didn't feel quite the same as pop did So it's not like everyone willing to jump on the mic and say stop booing Kauai, which was a crazy night. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I was like looking around like am I imagining this right now , but anyway, I interrupted you just to say like it's it you're right. There is absolutely respect between those walls for Kawa Leonard, but I don't think it's as like one is as close to him as pop was and is I guess it would be this is where I wanted to depict Devin's brain on that front because how does a relationship like that stay as seemingly strong as it does between he and people within that organization giving all given all the drama that was that that seventeen or eighteen nineteen season, right? eighteen nineteen season. Right. Well, it's very simple . You know, Matt brings up a good point , you know, about pop, pop still around , whatever the relationship was with Manu, Manu's around . Tony's in and out . Now I'm not going to go there because I don't know the relationship between Tony and Kawai if he were to come back . But if that is the biggest hurdle, Tony is not one of the player developmental coaches . So you don't have to worry about that aspect. So if he has a great relationship with pop . Well, everybody knows pop's the man , right ? So if there's some deal there where he can come back , so I played with the hornets left for a year, played with Cleveland and the hornets as soon as the season ended started reaching out to my age and I went back to the hornets . Okay , now I didn't I wasn't making, what'd you say, Chris, remind me of Rush Hour? fifty million dollars . Obviously I was making fifty million dollars. So it was a lot easier to bring me back. But the relationship with everybody was still the same once we started the season , right ? Whatever turmoil boom when I got back, we started and boom. We had a goal. We ain't man , we can't get swept in the first round like you guys did last year with Cleveland we got the to the Eastern Conference Finals. So there were goals there on both sides and I feel at the end of the day, whoever it is that had a problem with Kawai Leonard if he were to come back , all that would go out the window because at the end of the day , you have Kawai Leonard on your basketball team. Here's something I want to throw out to both of you guys and just a den kind of the opposite side of it . Why do you think what do you think is the driving reason Kawai would want to come back to San Antonio ? I honest ly like I just think he wants to be in LA still. Like I think that this is just as much about leverage as anything , but I also think because of the fact that like Kauai is very much creature of comfort . And I think that one of the reasons he would even put out or his camp or whoever, whoever is like spreading this is is that that is a believable place that he would go. And I say believable because like he does have relationships or at the very least had them and like you know you all have you all have pointed out , the relationship that he has with the Spurs , most of them, I should say , is not what the fans think of Kauai. It's a different animal from a in terms of like it's it's a better relationship . I've heard some of the fans out there and what they feel about CoAI Leonard, but but I just think that it is it is a place where like if you told Kauai , you can no longer be in Los Angeles . You have to go play somewhere else. Like where would he reach out first ? I think that it's tot ally believable that he'd say, well I'm going to reach back out to pop to RC to the guys who brought me in the first place. Like I think that's completely believable because like I said, I think Kawaii is a creature of comfort and that would make sense just as, you know, Toronto would make sense winning a title there . So that's that's I think it's just sort of the the I guess default option if that makes sense. I just think it's kind of the default option between San Antonio and Toronto if we're going to put potential suitors out there Go ahead, Devin. Love LOV . Let me tell you something . When you get off the plane regular season game, playoff game and there's goddamn twenty I mean twenty two thousand people out there at the airport Yeah . My first four years seeing that in San Antonio I was amazed. I didn't even know that the San Antonio fans moved like that . sh Bigout out to them for that . And it just grows and grows and grows the further along in everything that you do, you know, during the season . We had a big win in New Orleans. We had won like six games in a row . We were rolling and had a big road wind. Man I get off the plane. Sunglasses on, it's midnight. Sunglasses on ready for the love. We didn't have a soul there . When you get out there and experience things in the NBA and the real world and realize that it's not a fan base out there like it is in San Antonio is going to do something to you. So to answer your question, if he wants to come back , it's because he wants to be appreciated for everything that he's done and he's had a great career . So why not finish it? Matt keeps throwing that thirty five out there. That's not a regular thirty five year old though, Maggie, he gave you some buckets now.. He gave some buckets He gets bucket buckets. He listening. He listening. He wants to come back for the love, man and get it and feel appreciated again because, you know, he gets criticized a lot , but I mean, you know , Matt, when you're playing fifteen games a year or whatever I mean , except your contract year, hey, when your contract's up you're like , man, I feel good. Yeah, but we won't get into that. Yeah . I don't know if you guys noticed it's been a little while since I did this, but I figured it's a good subject, Matt. I brought the poll back. I brought the poll back. Should the Spurs and Ka i reunite for those for those of you at home? Absolutely. Kawaii already voted. Yeah, Kawaii already voted. Absolutely not . Hit two . Let us know. We'll get a full idea of what you're thinking at the end of the program. Influencing the jury has an exclamation point on one of them and just a period on the other hand . Hey, if he does come back, does Dylan Harper give him his number back? See, that's the other thing. I still have a burned in my brain last summer at this time. You know, we just had rookie press conferences today . Last year at this time , Dylan Harper and Carter Bryant were introduced and when Dylan Harper took the podium , he was introduced as , and I quote into the microphone the new number two in San Antonio . That's how they introduced him. Okay, yeah, all that's great. One of them is a final NVP. One of them's not. Yep. Dylan, pick your second best number. I was gonna say one of them missed two pivotal free throws, but yeah exactly Ice there. And a layo ff one of them yeah it's true and you know Kawaii if you wanted to just be like reach into those deep aspiration pockets that is true cut them a check for it I will say that if the if he came back I,'d welcome him with open arms because I think he's perfect. But I'm telling you right now, this aspiration thing has got me worried. Well, nobody's gonna touch him until that's resolved. So like this isn't no one is. Right. I mean, it's it feels like and this is a stretch, but would we be stunned if this turned into one of these things where it's like Pete Rose Bet on baseball, you're gone forever 'cause it's just such a crazy like concept to begin with. Circumvention. It's a pretty big deal. Yeah, yeah, I would say so. So that's forget chemistry, forget all the other stuff if the people are mad, you know, if they win a championship, they'd get over it. I'd just be hesitant giving something worthwhile to the clippers only to have Kawai for like half a season if they of course not the league . Of course you don't. Yeah. Yeah And the other thing is like as this aspiration thing has come up like stories have started to break through that lawsuit through that lawsuit and through discovery about the like shady dealings that were happening while he was still in San Antonio. And so I ask again, like , do you even want like fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me like you want to deal with that camp again. I know they're on their best behavior now because, you know, they can't get they got to be have to be. I think it's probably one of the reasons that Kauai hasi played so many games this year or did play so many games this year. Like he's been on the up and up and he was excellent this season. I don't know. It's a whole it's just so bizarre man the whole the whole Kawai career story is such a weird one like it when it's all said and done will be quite the story to tell all right. So there was actually a trade that happened today and it actually involves a team that the San Antonio Spurs beat in the postseason albeit they looked a little bit different . They look very different right now. The Lamello Ball trade go into Minnesota. How does that impact the Spurs and the Timberwolves standing in the Western conference? We talk about it coming up on the other side of the break right here on the Spur Squad show on lockdown Spurs. But let's have a convers ation first about our friends over at Hims. It's Him's offering right now a simple and convenient way to take care of your health by connecting you with licensed healthcare pros online and giving you access to personalized treat ments from the comfort of your own home. No awkward appointments, no pharmacy lines, just a straightforward process designed to make getting that care much easier. Taking care of yourself. It shouldn't feel complicated ands hy mmakesn the process private, easy and simple enough to navigate because it's healthcare built around your schedule and comfortably above all else because between work, family and everything else going on, finding time for appointments can really be tough. But the licensed providers online mean you can prioritize your health without having to rearrange your entire day. So to get simple online access to personalized, affordable ED care, weight loss care, hair care, and a whole lot more. Visit hims. com forward slash locked on NBA HIMS. com slash locked on MBA. Prescription required. C website for details and important safety information . Yes, hims dot com forward slash locked on NBA Hi, this is Wes Goldberg, host of Locked On NVA Daily and Locked On Heat, and today's episode is brought to you by ADT. Imagine you're watching the game at a buddy's house when you get a call that someone tried to break into yours. In a second, everything can change. That's why there's ADT. ADT's security systems help keep your home safe twenty four seven with the most company operated monitoring centers in the industry, and the ADT plus app keeps you in control the whole time. Don't leave your home wide open during an emergency. When every second counts, count on ADT. Visit ADT. com or call one eight hundred ADT ASAP All right, so a big time trade did happen in the Association today involving again a polarizing figure joining another polarizing figure in Minnesota. Charlotte flipping star point guard, all star point guard Lamello Ball to Minneapolis, to the Timberwolves , for Naz Reed, fan favorite over there and a whole haul of draft picks pairing Lamello Ball with Anthony Edwards. Gonna ask you guys, I guess a two part question. Devin will start with you first . What did you think of the trait? For one , for two , does this make up any ground in the hierarchy of the Western Conference in terms of the timberwolves starting to catch up to theur Ssp in OK the first part of your question, think of the trade. I'm confused . When they got rid of Julius Randall, he was he started to show signs of being suspect when they really needed him . Now you've had your troubles with Denver last couple of years. Now San Antonio . We saw during the when San Antonio played Minnesota, he was out and they went with Naz Reed Stay with Rudy Govern because of the fact that Rudy was doing a great job on Wimby kind of was the odd man out. We've seen that in games where Naz and Juju were out there and Gobert was the odd man out . So when I saw Juju, I said, well, yeah, he had some problems. They're probably tired of paying that salary to him . Okay, he goes . Well, I see the trade today and I'm like, alright, well this is good until I got to the part it said for Naz Reed . So now I go Minnesota, what are you doing ? Like I don't know if Rudy Go Bear's up there shooting mid mid range jump shots or now he can handle and break up the floor is like shooting a lot of Rudy's plate and and so when you talk about the bigs, Minnesota just gave up, two of them , oh no, Rudy Golbert is not that guy, right ? And and then you bring in Lamello. Now I do want to say this about Lamelo. Congratulations for him . However many years he's been in the league. This young man has gone through a lot of people going at him about the style of play that he plays the way that he plays the game of basketball and things like that to get to this point where all of these teams willing to make a trade for him . Well, now he's going to be in the big time. Now want to see how he handles that. I thought his last game it was not just him but John couldn't hit a freaking three against Orlando in the playing game and Charlotte lost that game. So you kind of knew they were going to make a deal there coach Smith there in Charlotte. You know, him and Lamello in that fourth quarter were kind of going back and forth but they were down thirty . So to see him come into the big time like this I know my daughter 's happy because she loves him. So that's a couple more home games instead of one . But I want to see how he handles Minnesota and the pressures of the West , but if you look at a one, two pun ch , very good . Yeah . Minnesota, other than that, I thought they gave up two good pieces . So me if I'm a Timberwolves fan and I'm not because I don't like the Mall of Americ . I find it puzzling. I forgot about that forgot about that. Yeah. I'm going to just real quick on Lamello and then I'll get to the Minnesota side of this the Charlotte Hornets , that starting lineup was the best five man lineup in the NBA for like much of the year from a from an advance advance metric standpoint particularly I think once they inserted Diabate into the starting lineup for good. I think that was the turning point , but that was a really impactful group and Lamelo Ball was a really impactful player. Say what you want about his nonchalant , you know, shop making, his style, his questionable decisions, all of that stuff. It didn't seem to have too much to do with impact because like everything across the board suggests like this guy's a pretty damn good player plus better defender defender than you think a bigger dude than you think like this is a six seven point guard but very clearly if you're sitting here saying like okay well it's not his impact then what is it like what is it? Is it up here ? Is it the relationships? Is it a lack of leadership? What is it that that makes you want to get him out of town when you seemed like to have a good thing going, right? So I'm with Devin like we,'re about to see and that has the potential to be a really incredible one to punch in the back court . It could also be combustible . Like we'll see how that all goes there it's going to there's going to be a test, no question, but yeah, the Minnesota side of this , I understand moving on from Julius Randall. I'm actually , you know , relatively I was relatively impressed at how quickly they were able to do it. They found the right kind of team, you know, a team that's down in the in the gutter right now can absorb a contract like that, willing they didn't have to pay much. They only had to give up like a what Well, they had to give up Nick Nick Claxon, but I think they're probably right which is course it ran its course, right? And they only had to give up like a second round pick or something like they didn't have to give up any tremendous assets to bring him on board on top of that they so you're looking at a situation Okay you trade Julius Randall he was a nightmare in the Western Conference semi vinals against the Spurs. There was some very like, you know, doing the thing where he's not talking to the media , the GM or the coaching staff and players, I think, were being real indirect when talking about what needed to change over the off season and they were talking about certain people without naming names, but you could kind of figure out who they were talking to. So like good on them to get off that contract and get the traded player exception in return . My thought was like, okay , you got your guys in order slide Naz into the starting lineup. You got these young dudes. I think they really like the Jan Baringer , the French kid back up five backup five. I think they like him. So I'm like, okay, you got something here to work with. Now use that trade exception and go get you a point guard who can who can get Anthony Edwards the ball who can find Naz who can who can get it to Jaden McDaniels. By the way, like Jaden McDaniels when,ever dudes were out with injury, namely Randall or Anthony Edwards, he stepped up in a big way offensively. Like we saw some off the dribble stuff, some pull up stuff. We saw variety to his game that you just didn't see when they were fully healthy because he's like the at that point the third and fourth option on the team. Okay, maybe elevate him a little bit. But then you go out and you bring in Lamello and you got to get rid of Naz Reed and suddenly you have just this like complete uncertainty in the front court . And you're looking at a Western conference that really requires you to have some depth up in the front court . So like and they had it and they had it and so I don't really know what and and I think maybe there is something to the idea of like okay, well you see what the spurs did they went out and got a bunch of guards . You see how that's worked for them and how that allowed them actually to play better against against Oklahoma City because Oklahoma City strength is that perimeter defense. Well, you counter it with guards . So maybe you can look and say like, okay, I guess I kind of get that , but it's just Rudy it's just Rudy back there and and and like and what are you going to do in the in the pick and roll offense? What are you going to do for a secondary playmaker outside of the back court? I don't know, man. Like it's it's weird to me. I don't get it. I don't I don't know what I said on my podcast today and Devin you'll like this That was a two K trade if I've ever seen one. Oh absolutely. That's a two K roster if I've ever seen one. You know what it reminded me of? I guess it's a while . It's probably like twenty years ago now when you saw the Iverson for Chaucey Bellups trade or the other way around excuse me no Iverson Iverson to Denver went to Denver. Yeah . Yeah, when Iverson was traded to Denver . It didn't work out very well and it didn't work out No did it didn't work out and I think this is kind of the same thing. I don't think I think it's kind of a lateral move in terms of them making up standings to get near the spurs . But it was kind of one of those spots where the clock is ticking with Anthony Edwards and they had to do something . They had to do something. The only issue is that something , I'm not sure is good enough . And it's not good enough to change course of that conference. It's of course a different look and we saw how desperate Minnesota was against the Spurs in that series with, you know, with with and not having that second ary ball handler Yeah. But this will help that and this will help . It'll help you . Yeah. You know , go ahead, Casey. No, I'm good. Hop in there, go ahead. Okay with Matt bringing up you struck a nerve, Matt. When with you bringing up the stuff about Judger no in a good way. Oh, okay. About Julius Randall saying the things that he was saying because obviously, you know, like we you have way more, you know, access to things that you're hearing and things like that and what he was doing with the media and sick of some of the guys on his team . I think that relationship between him and Aunt Edwards went out the door when during the regular season , Coach Finch called to play for Minnesota. They weren't playing the Spurs or playing someone else. And they wanted to get Julius on the block . And instead of doing that, Aunt Edwards hit a big three. three. I turned around and said to coach and I think when you see that as a Julius Randall, you go , who's the coach? Anthony Edwards or you ? So the meetings that he had on his end might have walked him out the door. Now the next point is this Lamello and you say this, what is it with him ? I'd love everybody that's on Instagram and you know you have, people that follow all this different stuff. I think with Lamello , it was his off the court stuff that got him in trouble . If you've ever seen the little mirrage of videos they put together NBA players are leaving arenas. He's always one of the top worst ones speeds out of there red light goes through the red light on and on and on and a lot of players don't realize that you're off court st uff , you know, of course the stuff with the domestic and all that's gonna shine , but even how you handle yourself leaving and especially a young team like Charlotte when they're trying to mold these guys you, have a great roster in any young team and you have where you want all your guys to be citizens. At the end of the day, you're getting blessed a lot of money, play the game, whatever, but you still have to be citizens of whatever city you live in. And I think with Lamello, I think his off the court stuff ran its course with them . And then at the other stuff, you were talking about leadership and things like that . He's a great player, dynamic player, all star all that . But I don't know if he's fit to run a team. So now you have him and I think in Minnesota, they're just going to have to figure that thing out and by the way just real quick. I know we got to get to break, but there were a lot of jokes around the internet Devin after he was traded saying the streets of Charlotte just got a lot safer. Oh okay I didn't see that but you're you're making me laugh at that yes Yes He's had some he's had some issues with the with the drive. Oh boy . Oh boy . It's kind of an interesting segue because one of the heavy hitters in the automotive industry around town in San Antonio actually has a big anniversary today. So before we get out of here, I want to tell you guys what exactly it is kind of a roundabout way of getting it. But I'm probably wrecked as far as I know , not any rex. As far as I know, not any rex. God, God willing over here . Yeah . What that anniversary is got that for you before we get up on out of here and we call it a Thursday night right here on the Spursqu sad show on locked on Spurs . But before we do, I want to remind you guys now that the games are over, game time still has plenty of ways to help you get to the concerts this summer , the festivals, the comedy shows, whatever it is, because with the long wait times that's going on, the checkout processes which are a nightmare, surprising fees, which I hate. Buying tickets can , well simply put be harder than it should be. And that's why fans are turning to game time. It's an app that makes buying tickets simple with upfront pricing, seat views before you buy, exclusive savings opportunities to help you get to the events that you want without the usual hassle. So take all the guesswork out of buying tickets to every type of event. Yes, spurs are out of season . Every type of event . Head on over to game time , download the app , create an account, use code locked on for twenty bucks off your first purchase, as always, terms. Do apply. One more time, create an account, redeem the code with LOCK ED ON for twenty dollars off, and be sure to download the Game Time Map today . Not every sale happens at the register. Before AT Business Wireless, checking out customers on our mobile POS systems took too long. Basically a staring contest where everyone loses. It's crazy what people will say during an awkward silence . Now transactions are done before the silence takes hold. That means I can focus on the task at hand and make an extra sail or two. Sometimes I do miss the bonding time sometimes. AT and T Business Wireless Connecting changes everything All right , so the big anniversary I was talking about before the break twenty nine years ago Tim Duncan became a San Antonio Spur already twenty nine years ago, automotive enthusiast Tim Duncan . I would say that was a landscape changing evening. Devin Devil what he could he could he could help fix the cars that Lamello I was Rex I was going to say you know a perfect guy for you Devin do you have a favor ite Duncan story you can share in two minutes or less? PG, PG. We have sponsors . Well, yeah, Pete, everything that man did was PG. You know, the greatest thing about when Tim Duncan arrived is he didn't get off with Dave Robinson's little white shorts on when Dave arrived here and got off of the plane with those . But you know, when it comes to big TD man, I'll tell you what , there were he was so competitive off the court, not only on the court, everybody knows he was he was quiet and things like that. Real quick he had this we didn't know this but during the summer he had a what's the little with the little balls paint paint gun paint gun team that he sponsored paintball we didn't know we didn't know we didn't know that he didn't invited everybody . were We all working out and so we go out there the little paintball area out there Leon Valley and you know he's like, yeah you guys being on the same team well the eight of us didn't know what we were doing had. He never been paintballing before. So we're trying to figure these guns out the rental guns, things like that. Well, these three hummers pull up and we're like, who are these guys all blacked out? Who are these guys? And they were Tim Duncan sponsore'ds paintball team. So the eight of them were on the other team, including him . And so we're trying to figure out where to hide and things like that. Oh yeah . We were there practice dummies for about an hour and a half . And that right there sums up Tim Duncan and me because he planned all that and we fell for the trap. That's mean man. Oh my goodness . I can't even think of their name because you didn't have time to see it because all you saw is there automatically and we're over there trying to click and shoot click and shoot it it was a miserable day for us. Every time Devin tells a story about Tim D uncan even off the air. I always for those of you at home are familiar with Chappelle show, it reminds me of Charlie Murphy Hollywood. Yeah, right stories . It some of them are so all over the place and the way Devon articulates it, I'm like, this is waiting for I'm waiting for him to float down from the rim like prince . Also you say louses So you said David got off the plane in tiny white shorts. Did Tim have on giant shorts? Like giant blue jean shorts because that's like man , I can't remember what Tim got off, but Dave kind of set our eyes back ten years when we got