[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, welcome everybody to the Lakers Legacy podcast where coming the heck on are we still doing this from one Jonathan to another can we please get this over with July is almost over schools about to start and it would be nice to get all of this Jonathan coming a stuff out of the way regardless.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jonathan Hernandez of the Lakers Legacy podcast, welcome to the show.
[SPEAKER_00]: Today, I thought what better way to close out the summer of 2026 than by already talking about the Lakers summer of 2027.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we're in the thick of the dog days of summer when that's the type of content we are pulling at or pulling from anyways welcome to the show today I want to talk about the lakeers non tax payer Emily I hinted on this topic in a previous live talking about why the lakeers are drawing a hard line in the sand with regards to what they want to pay Jonathan Kominga in a sign in trade.
[SPEAKER_00]: And a large part of that is because they are trying to do something in 2027, whether that thing is a big thing or whether they have their target set, I'm not sure, but it's clear that the Lakers have plans to use their non tax payer Emily in the summer of 2027 and outside of the Jonathan comming a thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: and them choosing to, and drawing a hard-line stance on only offering Commingra anywhere from $12 to $15 million.
[SPEAKER_00]: Outside of the Jonathan Commingra aspect of things, we only have to look at Sandra O'Mamu-Kellish Village contract in Austin Reeves' contract to sort of confirm that the Lakers have somewhat big plans with their non-tax pair MLE.
[SPEAKER_00]: because Sandra's contract actually goes from about $13 million this season to 12.3 million dollars next season.
[SPEAKER_00]: It actually dips and I just want to make it clear that the cap sheet that you see up here, which is from Yasi Goslin at third apron, make sure to follow his account, that this is the 2027-28 Lakers cap sheet, okay?
[SPEAKER_00]: But anyways, back to my point,
[SPEAKER_00]: On top of that as we later found out after he signed his new deal, Austin Reeves actually did end up taking a bit of a pay cut from the max amount that he could get and some of that pay cut if not a large portion of it will actually occur next summer when his contract dips are actually I'm not sure if it dips, but he doesn't he's not slated to make as much as he can make.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, actually I'm right.
[SPEAKER_00]: It actually dips from his max salary.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Austin's only making $42.9 million when I think originally, if he had just taken his full max contract, that would be $44 million.
[SPEAKER_00]: So
[SPEAKER_00]: Now the question is, well, why did Sandro, why is Sandro's contract dipping in the second year?
[SPEAKER_00]: Why did Austin Reeves take a slight pay cut and why is it dipping his second year?
[SPEAKER_00]: And why are the Lakers making sure that Jonathan Kominga caps out at about $15 million in any potential sign-and-trade scenario?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it all boils back down to the non-tax pair Emily, of $15.8 million next summer, and the Lakers making sure,
[SPEAKER_00]: that they stay below the $220 million projected first apron.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm not gonna run through their 2027 28 cap books, just believe me when I say that they clearly have set a plan in place for them to be able to avail of their $15.8 million non-tax pair Emily, as well as potentially the $5.7 million by annual exception.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, the buy annual exception is less of a priority because true to form.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a buy annual exception.
[SPEAKER_00]: If the Lakers don't use it next year, then they can use it the following year, provided that they're still a below the first apron team.
[SPEAKER_00]: So really,
[SPEAKER_00]: It seems like the Lakers are prioritizing using their non-tax pair MLE.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, what I want to talk about in this episode though is not which free agents they're going to target in the summer of 2027, which free agents they're going to use their non-tax pair MLE on.
[SPEAKER_00]: Today I want to talk about the concept of the Lakers using their non-tax pair MLE next summer as a traded player exception.
[SPEAKER_00]: So what that means is, instead of using it to sign a new free agent, the Lakers can just use that non-tax pair Emily that $15.8 million non-tax pair Emily and scour the league for any player making that amount or less and just absorb them into that non-tax pair Emily because in the new CBA,
[SPEAKER_00]: They allow, they started allowing teams to use their mid-level exception as traded player exceptions, and so one such example that I do want to bring up is
[SPEAKER_00]: literally happened this past summer is what the Oklahoma City Thunder did with Isaiah Joe or rather what the Detroit Pistons did to acquire Isaiah Joe from the Oklahoma City Thunder.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Isaiah Joe had a was on on the Oklahoma City Thunder for 11 million dollars this season.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe he's on four next season as well at around the same amount.
[SPEAKER_00]: What the Pistons did is they didn't trade a single player for Isaiah Joe.
[SPEAKER_00]: They just traded two future second round picks the Oklahoma City Thunder.
[SPEAKER_00]: And as you guys all know, okay, see needed to free up a bunch of salary because they were getting mighty expensive.
[SPEAKER_00]: They were bumping up against the second apron.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so they needed to offload players, including Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins, and then eventually Lou Dort.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they got off of all of these
[SPEAKER_00]: They use their non-tax pair Emily this year on Isaiah Joe.
[SPEAKER_00]: They essentially absorb Isaiah Joe's $11.3 million into their non-tax pair Emily.
[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't have to trade anybody else.
[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't have to, yeah, they didn't have to trade a single player.
[SPEAKER_00]: They just traded two future seconds, and they,
[SPEAKER_00]: helped relieve the okay see Thunder of a bunch of luxury tax by just using their non tax pair Emily and absorbing Isaiah Joe's 11 million dollars that left them with about 3.7 million dollars of the non tax pair Emily.
[SPEAKER_00]: I forget if they actually use that.
[SPEAKER_00]: But essentially, this is the concept that I want to talk about in today's episode.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do the Lakers have big plans for their non-tax pair MLE with regards to not only going out into the free agent market and seeing whether or not Max Christie who has a player option next summer.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whether or not they can re-sign Max Christie by giving him the 15.8 million dollar non-tax pair Emily outside of that Do the lickers also have plans to scour the trademark it to see if they can absorb a player like Isaiah Joe and hopefully a Better caliber of player than Isaiah Joe using their non-tax pair Emily so
[SPEAKER_00]: that is what we're going to focus on in today's episode.
[SPEAKER_00]: So let me quickly before I get into the list of potential non-tax paramilitary trade candidates that we should look at and monitor.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me just bring up our cap sheet once again.
[SPEAKER_00]: So to recap the non-tax pair Emily next summer will be around $15.8 million.
[SPEAKER_00]: Currently the lake is, and I mentioned that I wouldn't dive into the nitty gritty of their capbook.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I won't.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll leave it right here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whether or not we get Jonathan Kimminga, that's a totally different question.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's just say that the Lakers do have their 15.8 million dollar non-tax pair Emily to use.
[SPEAKER_00]: Who can they go out there and trade for?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because again, it seems like the Lakers have done a lot of work.
[SPEAKER_00]: Austin Reaves took a pay cut, Sandra took a pay cut, like these guys didn't take a pay cut for nothing, okay?
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's clear, the Lakers are going to keep this amount of money open so that they can actually
[SPEAKER_00]: Outside of trades are the main pretty much the only way the lakers can upgrade their roster next summer
[SPEAKER_00]: So before I get into any potential, non-tax pair Emily names that the Lakers could target next summer in the same vein as an Isaiah Joe or an Aaron Wiggins, who by the way, the Atlanta Hawks used the Luke Canard traded player exception to absorb Aaron Wiggins.
[SPEAKER_00]: Before I get into the list of those targets and players, if I could please ask you guys to take a moment and like this video, comment down below and most importantly, hit subscribe.
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, please mash the hype button to help drum up the engagement that would help me out a lot.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Again, would greatly appreciate it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And with that house cleaning out of the way, let's get into the list of names who could be trade candidates for the Lakers.
[SPEAKER_00]: Shall we?
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
[SPEAKER_00]: So when it comes to the Lakers potentially using their non-tax
[SPEAKER_00]: if they plan to use it as an absorption tool, who are the candidates that they can go after.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to make sure that I caveat myself very carefully and say that as of right now,
[SPEAKER_00]: July 31, 2026, some or a lot of these names are not going to sound that realistic of targets because there's no way this guy's going to get traded.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no way that's going to get guys going to get traded.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not saying that they are likely to get traded.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just saying we should monitor them because things happen very quickly in the NBA teams context change very drastically.
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't know what some of these teams will look like by the trade deadline, whether or not their star player gets an Achilles heel injury injury and then that totally sets them on a different course.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if one player seems highly unrealistic as a trait, a potential trait target right now that does not mean that they're still going to be unrealistic.
[SPEAKER_00]: nearly 12 months from now.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I just wanted to make sure to do my do my do diligence and leave no stone and turn with regards to bringing up potential non-tax pair M.L.E.
[SPEAKER_00]: trade candidates.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again,
[SPEAKER_00]: These are guys next summer that we can just absorb.
[SPEAKER_00]: If their teams don't want any players back and they could actually want some salary cap relief, the linkers can give them that.
[SPEAKER_00]: By just absorbing any of these players into the $15.8 million non-tax pair Emily.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, the linkers will also likely have to give up some draft capital in a lot of these cases, the way that the Detroit Pistons gave up two seconds to absorb Isaiah Joe,
[SPEAKER_00]: But there are also some candidates where if a team is hard pressed enough and they just want to get rid of some salary, maybe the lakers don't have to give up any second round picks or any ancillary draft capital.
[SPEAKER_00]: But with that said,
[SPEAKER_00]: Without further ado, let's get into my list of the top 2027 non-tax pair Emily trade exception candidates, or the top non-tax pair Emily as a trade exception trade candidates to monitor.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a mouthful.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, at the top, and this is probably the most pine the sky target, but Nikhil Alexander Walker.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is 28 years old this season.
[SPEAKER_00]: He will be 29 years old next year.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is on a $15.1 million contract currently.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then he has a player option in 2829.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's still on fully guaranteed for the next two years at around 15 to 16 million dollars.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then in 2829, he has a player option.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, obviously, like I just mentioned,
[SPEAKER_00]: Nikail Alexander Walker, right now doesn't seem like a player that that Lanna Hawks will readily trade.
[SPEAKER_00]: But...
[SPEAKER_00]: what happens next season when the kill Alexander is already 29 years old, things have happened to the hawks that they didn't expect.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is not necessarily in their same timeline.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know they're trying to compete, but maybe they have a glut at that position.
[SPEAKER_00]: They did bring in Lou Dort.
[SPEAKER_00]: They have dice and Daniels.
[SPEAKER_00]: What if the kill Alexander Walker is the odd man out because his player option is coming up and he may want to get paid more than
[SPEAKER_00]: that $16 million that he has in 2829 and the Atlanta Hawks in anticipation of that are like let's just offload him and get some assets while we can because by the time he opts out of his player option he'll be 30 years old.
[SPEAKER_00]: So again, I understand this is a pie in the sky sort of target but he would definitely be someone that I think the Lakers should be targeting
[SPEAKER_00]: This last year, Nikhil Alexander Walker had a career year averaging what, like nearly 20 points per game on top of the fact that, you know, he kind of made his bread and his money off of his stellar point of attack defense with the Minnesota Timberwolves and then this past year kind of showed that he can also ball on the offensive end of the floor.
[SPEAKER_00]: So clearly, his value is more than what he's currently making that $15.1 million dollars.
[SPEAKER_00]: And actually, $15.1 million represents what he's going to make next summer.
[SPEAKER_00]: I should be clear.
[SPEAKER_00]: So $15.1 million is what Nikail Alexander Walker will be making during the 27, 28 season.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that is the number that the liakers will absorb.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so if they use their non-tax pair Emily to trade for Nikail Alexander Walker, that would essentially
[SPEAKER_00]: all of it, which is fine.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Nikail Alexander Walker, he's at the top of my list for non-tax per Emily trade exception candidates.
[SPEAKER_00]: Next on my list is Tariysin of the Houston Rockets.
[SPEAKER_00]: This year, he's still only 25 years old.
[SPEAKER_00]: He'll be 26 years old next season.
[SPEAKER_00]: And next summer, his contract will jump up to $15.1 million.
[SPEAKER_00]: He just signed a new extension with the Houston rockets.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe this year, he's making around $14 million.
[SPEAKER_00]: Next summer, that will rise to $15.1 million.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it will go on till the 2030-2031 season.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's still got a bit of time on that deal.
[SPEAKER_00]: He has a player option of $18 million that season, which, you know, when what age will he be at that point?
[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to be like 29 years old by the time his extension runs out and he can opt to opt out.
[SPEAKER_00]: But anyways, next summer, Tariysin will be making $15.1 million.
[SPEAKER_00]: Who knows where the Houston rockets will be next summer?
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe they blow it up.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think negotiations went too smoothly between Tari and Houston, and I believe he may have rejected a similar offer, a similar extension offer, the year prior.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know if anybody saw his recent like, it was either on Snapchat, IG, or social media, but Tari Eastern, after he signed the deal, posted something on the internet and his
[SPEAKER_00]: pretty much had this line that said, uh, okay, kind of showing his, you know, nonchalance and like he wasn't too enthused with his new deal.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll say as much.
[SPEAKER_00]: Who knows if he was like specifically referring to this deal, but all I know is this was not the type of deal that I think Tarot Eason and his camp wanted.
[SPEAKER_00]: So who knows what happens next summer, whether or not he'll still be happy, whether or not the Houston Rockets want to go
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure they have some extension candidates coming up with regards to their younger players.
[SPEAKER_00]: So next summer.
[SPEAKER_00]: we could take Tarri Esen off the Houston rocket's hands, you know, 15.1 million dollars.
[SPEAKER_00]: We just use all of our pretty much most of our non-tax pair MLE.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe we have to give them a couple of seconds or a pick swap if we have that still next summer.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then the Lakers get Tarri Esen at age 26 next summer.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I would be interested in something like that even though he's still on till 2030 31 because his deal is not that expensive.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's pretty much making the non-tax pair
[SPEAKER_00]: over the course of this, over the course of these next few years.
[SPEAKER_00]: And obviously, Tarysen was potentially a candidate that the Lakers were looking at maybe throwing a restricted free agency offer towards this summer if they hadn't been prioritizing Walker Kessler.
[SPEAKER_00]: So could they do it next summer after the buyers remorse from the Houston Rocketsend or even
[SPEAKER_00]: trickles through and they no longer want to be, you know, conjoined together, it's possible.
[SPEAKER_00]: So keep a lookout for Tariys and he's honestly one of the candidates that I would look at, even though he's a flawed player.
[SPEAKER_00]: But as we saw from the Houston Rocket series, I thought he grew a lot and he showed his,
[SPEAKER_00]: defensive versatility with all these steals and blocks and even knock down some three points shots, even though last season we all know that he had this like horribly cold stretch in February to March where he only hit like two of 25 three pointers, but I think he still ended the year shooting 37% from three.
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyways, Tarysi Tarysi, he is your
[SPEAKER_00]: Prototypical tweener 3-4 in the PJ Washington vein, even though he's more raw and unproven in PJ Washington.
[SPEAKER_00]: But he's still young.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, outside of Tariysen, next we've got Mitchell Robinson.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's 28 years old this season.
[SPEAKER_00]: kind of feel like he's older than that, maybe it's because of the way he moves and how injury prone he has been the last couple of years.
[SPEAKER_00]: Next season he'll be 29 and next summer his contract will be set at 15.7 million dollars.
[SPEAKER_00]: After that he has a player option of 16.5 million dollars
[SPEAKER_00]: Mitchell Robinson, I'm not sure how I feel.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he's probably a realistic candidate because who knows where the Boston Celtics will be next summer or after this season, after having traded Jalen Brown and now they have Paul George on their team and who knows whether the wheels can stay on.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mitchell Robinson with regards to health and they may have quick buyers remorse with regards to the Mitch Robb signing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And as we all know,
[SPEAKER_00]: If the Lakers, it's been reported already that if the Lakers hadn't landed Walker Kessler, they were going to immediately turn their sights to signing Mitchell Robinson.
[SPEAKER_00]: To what amounts, I'm not sure, but I'm hoping that it wasn't going to be the case that we'd give him $18 to $20 million, because I think that would have been a disaster.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, that the context and the situation have changed though, and we do have Walker Kestler in house, with the Lakers B.O.K.
[SPEAKER_00]: with trading for Mitchell Robinson, if it didn't cost them that much, and all it took was their non-tax pair M.L.E.
[SPEAKER_00]: of $15.8 million to absorb Mitchell Robinson, maybe it costs us a second or two, or maybe by then Mitchell Robinson is such a distressed asset that the Boston Celtics just want to get off of him, and we can just absorb him.
[SPEAKER_00]: out right save Boston a ton of money.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe we get a second round pick in this respect, you know, but I would say paying your backup big $15.7 million isn't that enticing, but in order to have 48 minutes of like true elite room protection, I would not mind bringing Mitchell Robinson in
[SPEAKER_00]: Next target, and this one's a wild one, Isaiah Stewart of the Memphis Grizzlies.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Detroit Pistons traded Stewart this off season to the Grizzlies.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is 25 years old this season, he'll be 26 next summer.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the Grizzlies have a $15 million team option on him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now you're probably wondering, well, why would they pick up his team option and then immediately trade him?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, they would do that in order to get some sort of asset back for him versus just letting him walk.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's kind of the same...
[SPEAKER_00]: scenario and deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Ludort.
[SPEAKER_00]: They had a team option on Ludort in order to save a whole bunch of money they could have just let Ludort offer that option and made him an unrestricted free agent.
[SPEAKER_00]: Instead, they opted into his final $17 million or $18 million team option and then they sent him to the Atlanta Hawks and got some assets in return.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the Memphis Grizzlies will do just that with the Lakers be interested in Isaiah Stewart.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have long been a fan, at least on paper of beef stew, but obviously we all know how rabid and bull in a China shop, E, he can be and the problems that come with that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now the positives are he has a tremendous motor, he's a true enforcer in terms of being a mobile, dream on green-ish type defender on the perimeter and in the paint.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, small ball fives in the league, power forward slash small ball fives in the league, and he can stretch it out to the three point land as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I mean, Isaiah Stewart is if he actually see him as a realistic trade candidate because I'm not sure the Memphis Grizzlies, you know, still want to keep him.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Detroit Pistons got off of him for this reason.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he clashed with some of the coaching staff.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, who doesn't clash with Isaiah Stewart?
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that's obviously the biggest sort of concern and problem to take into account.
[SPEAKER_00]: But,
[SPEAKER_00]: Isaiah Stewart would not be a bad fit on the Lakers as Luca Doncich's enforcer.
[SPEAKER_00]: We would just have to rain him in and I'm sure JJ Reddick will continue to grow more gray slash white hairs on his head having to sort of babysit beef stew.
[SPEAKER_00]: But by all accounts, it sounds like he's a great person in real life though, like off the court.
[SPEAKER_00]: He just has clear anger management issues.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, so there's Isaiah Stewart making $15 million on a team option next summer.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Lakers could just use their non-tax pair MLA to absorb him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe they give the Grizzlies to second round picks for their trouble.
[SPEAKER_00]: After Isaiah Stewart, we've got another big man, Robert Williams.
[SPEAKER_00]: He resigned with the Portland Trailblazers on a new three-year deal this summer.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's 29 years old.
[SPEAKER_00]: This summer he'll be 30 years old next summer when he'll be making $14.5 million.
[SPEAKER_00]: his next two seasons, his contracts are actually non guaranteed and contingent on him being healthy.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if he plays 50 games, his contract becomes fully guaranteed, both next season and his final season in 2028, 29, when he has a $15 million player option.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's actually not a bad contract to get your hands on because it already has the requisite
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, health slash injury stipulations attached to the contract.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so it's kind of even less of a risk for the lakers to take on because if he doesn't fulfill his, you know, minimum games played quota, you can just cut him.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you save, I think it's $5 million non-garency.
[SPEAKER_00]: $5 million guarantee next season off of his $14.5 million contract.
[SPEAKER_00]: If he plays, if he doesn't play 50 games, I think you can get off of that deal.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure how the that actually works like whether when you know that he's not going to play that amount and when you can wave him I think maybe you can wave him at the end of the deal I don't know all I know is Robert Williams he's making 14.5 million dollars a non guaranteed contract next summer.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Lakers, if they want him, can just use their non-tax pair MLE to absorb him.
[SPEAKER_00]: And given the gluts of bigs that the Portland Trailblazers have on the roster with Dada been clinging still there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hands and yanks still doing his umbap, a duba-dap thing with the crazy passes at least in summer league.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if they actually have used for Robert Williams and by next summer they may just be fine with offloading him and we all know that they are current owner is very cheap.
[SPEAKER_00]: So might he not want extra money back in the bank and Lakers can give them a second round pick if they have to give up anything at all and then we have Robert Williams the perfect
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's Robert Williams.
[SPEAKER_00]: Next on the list is the Houston Rockets Steven Adams.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now Steven Adams is the oldest player on this list.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is 33 years old this season.
[SPEAKER_00]: He'll be 34 next year, which actually a little surprise by I thought he was older.
[SPEAKER_00]: But still only 33 years old this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: Next season he'll be on an 11.8 million dollar
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I don't think Steven Adams is the type of player that we would want to invest in because he's not young, he's not a Lucas timeline, he's kind of Kavon Looney asked, although much better than Kavon Looney even with, you know, how injury prone he's been the last couple of years.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would love to have Steven Adams.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just wouldn't want to waste an asset like the non-tax pair MLE on him.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's making $11.8 million.
[SPEAKER_00]: I actually think if Steven Adams is healthy,
[SPEAKER_00]: when it comes to trying to get the most bang for a buck with regards to using the non-tax pair MLE as a traded player exception.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think we want to shoot higher and I would love to have Steven Adams on our team for the veteran minimum or even the biannual exception because I just think he's the perfect like
[SPEAKER_00]: no frills, very smart big man who can set bone crushing screens for you, gobble up every rebound and just be kind of like beef stew that enforcer that Luca Donchich needs in the paint.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so if it's for the BIE, I'd be a little bit more open to it, but if it means, you know, using up
[SPEAKER_00]: 80, 90% of our non-tax per Emily to absorb him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe we do get an asset in return because the Houston rockets may have two expensive of a roster and are like, hey, can anybody take Steven Adams off our hands?
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll give you a second for it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe then I'd slightly consider it, but even in that scenario, I think Steven Adams is probably not really an option.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just put him on this list because he fits the 15.8 million dollar
[SPEAKER_00]: Alright, the next player on this list is probably the most intriguing one, but also kind of flawed.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's talk about Ron Holland of the Detroit pistons.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's 21 years old this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: He'll be 22 next summer.
[SPEAKER_00]: Next summer, the pistons have a 11.4 million dollar team option on him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Same deal with Lou Dort.
[SPEAKER_00]: They may just want to opt into that team option and get assets for him if
[SPEAKER_00]: less realistic because again, he's still going to be 22 years old next year, I don't know where the pistons are going to be in there, you know, win now mode of things, but they might have especially with regards to what happens with Jalen Durin and how much they sign him to.
[SPEAKER_00]: They may just want to save some money, you know, and in that case,
[SPEAKER_00]: They may opt into Ron Holland's contract and just see if they can get any assets from any team out there.
[SPEAKER_00]: And in the Lakers case, they can just absorb Ron Holland's entire contract, give Detroit, you know.
[SPEAKER_00]: two seconds for their troubles.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the Lakers all of a sudden have a 6 foot 6, 6 foot 7 with a 7 foot plus wingspan defensive wing on their hands.
[SPEAKER_00]: And one who's very athletic.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, obviously, the problem with Ron Holland is he's not a shooter and depending on where we're at with regards to, you know, a two-fiero's development, camcars development, we may not need Ron Holland.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just put him on this list because he's an intriguing young wing and the lakers could always use, you know, wings who are particularly good at the point of attack and perimeter wise.
[SPEAKER_00]: So.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ron Holland also kind of a hot head, you know, I've seen him on the Detroit recently and it seems like he's got a bit of a temper issue as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what's in the water in Detroit, but yeah, he was a player that I was very intrigued by coming out of the adults and connect draft.
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously he didn't fall all the way to number 17, but could the lakers get a.
[SPEAKER_00]: Second draft shot at Ron Holland if the Detroit pistons are looking to move off of there, young prospect and just want to save money and get some assets in the process.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, two more names.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's Ron Holland.
[SPEAKER_00]: Next name we've got day-run sharp 25 years old this summer.
[SPEAKER_00]: He'll be 26 next year.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Brooklyn Nets have a $10 million team option on him, but like a lot of these team option candidates, it could be the case that the Brooklyn Nets opt into that contract just so that they can flip him and get some assets in return.
[SPEAKER_00]: I really like day-round sharp.
[SPEAKER_00]: If the Lakers absorb him using their non-tax pair MLE, they would still have $5.8 million of their non-tax pair MLE to use after that.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's one reason to potentially think about doing something like this.
[SPEAKER_00]: One, they get a really good backup center, who's a little bit different in player archetype than Walker Kessler because day-round sharp is bulky and more bruising.
[SPEAKER_00]: He can pass a little bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: He can actually space a little bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, and yeah, if the liquors use their non-tax pair Emily to absorb their on sharp, they would still have $5.8 million to play with and they could use that to sign somebody else on the free agent market or again, trade for somebody else.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's hard to find good players who are only making $5.8 million.
[SPEAKER_00]: But anyways, there's day-run sharp.
[SPEAKER_00]: Lastly,
[SPEAKER_00]: We've got Jalen Williams out of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
[SPEAKER_00]: Still only 24 years old, he'll be 25 next summer.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Thunder have a $7.7 million team option on him.
[SPEAKER_00]: If the Lakers use the non-tax pair MLE on Jalen Williams, they would actually have half of their non-tax pair MLE left.
[SPEAKER_00]: They would still have what?
[SPEAKER_00]: $7.7.1?
[SPEAKER_00]: Left?
[SPEAKER_00]: No, wait, I'm doing my math wrong.
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, the Lakers would still have a sizable portion of their non-tax pair Emily left even after absorbing Jalen Williams into the NTMLE.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the problem with Jalen Williams as much as I like him as versatile as he is.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is a guy who is putting up triple doubles when he got minutes with OKC Thunder just showing off his versatility ability to space it out to the three point line.
[SPEAKER_00]: As enticing as Jalen Williams is, as we've seen from the Oklahoma City Thunder, they have been very smart about not just salary dumping their useful players onto western conference teams.
[SPEAKER_00]: As we saw with Isaiah Joe, Ian Wiggins, and Lou Dort, the OKC Thunder shipped all those guys out east.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so even though I think Jalen Williams is an easy and realistic potential trade candidate because of the way the Oklahoma City Thunder have operated and I would say smartly so it doesn't seem like they'd be willing to trade or salary dump a useful player like Jalen Williams.
[SPEAKER_00]: on to a Western conference opponent, which makes a whole ton of sense.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I'm just going to put Jalen Williams name on here anyways because he's a player that I've been particularly enticed by over the years and if the Lakers are, if the Lakers managed to convince the Oklahoma City Thunder to trade him our way, I would absolutely love that.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, so that pretty much does it for
[SPEAKER_00]: non-tax pair Emily trade candidates for next summer obviously you can there are other guys out there you just have to make sure that they make below 15.8 million dollars otherwise the makers can't absorb them into the non-tax pair Emily yeah so here's another look at it here's another slide I don't have Isaiah Stewart in this one which is why I was using the previous one
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, let me know what your thoughts are on these non-tax per Emily trade candidates.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know we often view the full mid-level exception as a tool to use in free agency.
[SPEAKER_00]: Most famously, we used our last full Emily on Gabe Vincent, which is a terrible use of that exception.
[SPEAKER_00]: But as we've seen more,
[SPEAKER_00]: Commonly, over the last few years, teams have started using their full non-tax per Emily just as a traded player exception and just absorbing players into that space and helping other teams out because in the new second apron world, in the new apron world, teams need to get off of useful players more often.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that does it for this non-tax pair MLE as a traded player exception segment.
[SPEAKER_00]: These are the players that, you know, will that fall in that bracket for next summer.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me know who your favorites are, whether I missed any comment them down below.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's pitch it to a couple of sponsors first.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me get some swigs of water and coffee.
[SPEAKER_00]: When we return,
[SPEAKER_00]: bonus coverage for those who are on this live.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna quickly go over Jaden Hardy's player profile.
[SPEAKER_00]: Nothing says dog days of summer, more than a Jaden Hardy player profile.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if you're interested in that, stay tuned, but let's pitch to a couple sponsors first, and then I will catch you guys after the turn.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, we are back.
[SPEAKER_00]: So to close this show out,
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's talk about Jaden Hardy.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know what the hell.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why don't we talk about Jaden Hardy?
[SPEAKER_00]: This guy's not going to be on the team past January, potentially, but Jaden Hardy.
[SPEAKER_00]: is currently a Laker, seems like he's going to go to Slovenia with the rest of Lucas T-mates for Luka Donch's Mini Camp.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Jayden Hardy is also a former teammate of Luka Donch's.
[SPEAKER_00]: It seems like they have a pretty good rapport with one another.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if I had to guess, Luca had to say in who the lakers would get back in that wizard's deal for with the Andre 8 and getting the second round picks back.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure he doesn't mind having Jayden Hardy back on the team a familiar face from his Dallas Mavericks days.
[SPEAKER_00]: So let's talk about Jayden Hardy.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is definitely, I mean, this is the most devils advocate eat segment that I've ever done.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is leave no stone unturned.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's not just brush this guy off as like, even if he's not long for the team.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wanna make sure that I do my due diligence and actually,
[SPEAKER_00]: giving him a fair shot and covering his game because there are some pretty interesting, you know, tidbits and notes about his basketball career thus far that it would just be, it would just be helpful to know about right, even if this guy gets traded, you know, in a Jonathan coming to trade any day or any hour now, you know, so with that in mind, Jaden Hardy 24 years old, I guess he just turned 24 this past July five.
[SPEAKER_00]: this past your life.
[SPEAKER_00]: He has six with three in height, although, you know, some website say he's he's six four in shoes, 198 pounds.
[SPEAKER_00]: The crazy part about Jaden Hardy is the fact that he has a six foot nine wingspan for a six three six four guards have a six foot nine wingspan.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is actually kind of incredible.
[SPEAKER_00]: Reminds me of Lonnie Walker a bit, when the Lakers signed him with the, I think at that time, the taxpayer, Emily.
[SPEAKER_00]: Lonnie Walker was six foot four, but he had a crazy six foot 10 wing span.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, Jaden Hardy at six, three, six, four with a six foot nine wing span.
[SPEAKER_00]: Those are some nice physical tools, whether or not he actively and productively uses his length,
[SPEAKER_00]: is another question, but, you know, it's better than being like a gay Vincent where you're short and you have stubby arms and, you know, you're just small.
[SPEAKER_00]: So at least with Jayden Hardy, he has that wingspan factor to him at six foot nine.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Jayden Hardy in his career has averages of 8.4 points per game, 1.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.4 steals, 0.1 blocks,
[SPEAKER_00]: 42.5% from the field, 38.6% from three, knocking down about 1.43 pointers made per game, 75.6% from the stripe, doing all of this in just 15 minutes.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you can get a bench scoring guard who can come off the pine in just 15 minutes and score nearly 9 points a game,
[SPEAKER_00]: shoot 38% 38.6% in his career on pretty decent volume, given the small amount of time, you know, 1.43 pointers made, I think that's a pretty good bench microwave score, slash combo guard.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, if that's what you're looking for.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, obviously the problem with the Lakers is we don't really have need for another scoring combo guard with
[SPEAKER_00]: Austin Reeves, Colin Sexton, even Quentin Grimes, because Quentin Grimes can play both the one and the two.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then on top of that, we still have Ronnie James.
[SPEAKER_00]: What are we doing with Chris Manion, who's on our two-way spot and potentially may get converted to a standard deal?
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, Chris Manion's different than Jayden Hardy for sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: If the lakers end up moving off of brawny james and somehow get a acid for him, which I doubt, unless it's the Philadelphia 76ers, then Jaden Hardy starts to make a little bit more sense, but as currently constructed, the lakers really don't have that much of a use for Jaden Hardy, he's pretty much just an expiring six million dollar traded player exception.
[SPEAKER_00]: Having said that, if we're trying to give Jaden Hardy the devil's advocate fair shot here, he does give the Lakers creation depth with regards to another ballhandler who can create something out of nothing because he's a bucket getter but more than that, I just mentioned his career three point shooting percentage.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's actually a really good three point shooter.
[SPEAKER_00]: And to dissect his three point shooting a little bit more,
[SPEAKER_00]: Jayden Hardy's actually a good, very good catch and shoot three point shooter.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was looking up his shots dashboard data earlier today, and I had assumed that Jayden Hardy was just a, you know, gunner, a pull up three point shooter who liked to swaggy p dribble around the three point arc and then launch it, but actually he takes a larger number of his shots catching
[SPEAKER_00]: and he's a better shooter, catch and shoot-wise.
[SPEAKER_00]: So 38.6% in his career from beyond the arc, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: But he shoots 40% as a catch and shoot 3-point shooter, which is very encouraging to me because on a team with Austin Reeves and Luca Donchich, you're likely not going to have the ball in your hands.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you just need to spot up and
[SPEAKER_00]: route run all around the perimeter and be ready to shoot the ball when it comes to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And fortunately, for the Lakers sake, if they're ever in a break glass in case of emergency where they need to use Jadenhardy, he is actually a really good catch and shoot 3 point shooter who doesn't need to dribble around to get a rhythm with the ball or get a rhythm for his shot.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so again, nearly 40% from
[SPEAKER_00]: nearly 40% as a catch and shoot three point shooter with most of his volume of attempts coming in the catch and shoot variety.
[SPEAKER_00]: Only his rookie season, his rookie season was the only year where that flipped and he was more of a pull-up three point jump shooter than a catch and shoot guy, but the last couple of years and the last couple of years obviously.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he's played with Luca Donchich, his entire career in the NBA.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the last couple of years, he's been mainly a catch-and-shoot three-point shooter who has been very efficient in that respect.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if we're talking about break glass in case of emergency situations, like let's say Colin Sexton goes down, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I would trust Jaden Hardy, more than I would, Ronnie James, and in some situations, depending on how camcars development is going, maybe he all of a sudden gets the hiccups during the first couple of months of the season, even though from what we saw in the summer league,
[SPEAKER_00]: It seems like camp car is like plug and play ready to go, but let's say he isn't because he's a rookie.
[SPEAKER_00]: If Colin Sexton all of a sudden goes down, then Jaden Hardy is the next man up and I think the liquor's would actually need his services as a bucket getter, as a microwave score off the bench, as a primary creator, he's not exactly a downhill attacker like he's not, he doesn't even have like Colin Sexton's
[SPEAKER_00]: paint touching ability.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's more of a, you know, pull up jump shooter in the mid range.
[SPEAKER_00]: He can get to the basket, but it's not as relentless as I would say, you know, like a Dennis Schroeder or a Colin Sexton even, but he does have some surprising athleticism when he has a head of steam behind him and he has some space.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that's one thing that I like about
[SPEAKER_00]: Gave Vincent, which is a bad example, but even a guy like Luke Knart, Jaden Hardy has a little bit more dynamic pop and athleticism to his game.
[SPEAKER_00]: that's kind of nice to see.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's also very good in transition.
[SPEAKER_00]: He knows how to push the ball ahead.
[SPEAKER_00]: He knows how to throw really nice outlet passes.
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, the biggest thing with Jayden Hardy is he's a good 3-point shooter and he's the exact type of good 3-point shooter that you would want around Luka Dawnshitch and Austin Reeves because he can catch and shoot the leather off of the ball.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're looking for a comfort Jayden Hardy, I would kind of point to a former Laker and say that
[SPEAKER_00]: kind of reminds me of Malik Beesley.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now Malik Beesley is like probably the high-end aspirational comp for Jayden Hardy because Malik Beesley was able to become, you know, like an 18, 20 point score in the NBA.
[SPEAKER_00]: And obviously, even Malik Beesley is a better defensive player than Jayden Hardy, and that's the biggest flaw that Jayden Hardy has currently he's not a good defensive player, but in terms of shooting, I would kind of compare him to Malik Beesley and if he's ever able to get the volume up, last season was his career hit a career high like 1.83 pointers made per game.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that was his biggest volume spike, three-point-shining-wise.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you can continue to progress in that respect, you could see like a dollar tree version of Malik Biesley.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Malik Biesley is not a bad player to have on a team like this to help with the spacing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Really quickly, let's take a look at some of Jaden Hardy's points of note.
[SPEAKER_00]: because I found this kind of interesting, like looking into his history, just how much pedigree, Jaden Hardy had as a prospect coming out of high school.
[SPEAKER_00]: So coming out of high school in 2021, Jaden Hardy was a consensus five star recruit, but not only that, he was actually the top ranked combo guard in his high school class in 2021.
[SPEAKER_00]: and furthermore, he ranked number two or number three in different websites in his recruiting class, just behind either Palo Bancaro or Chet Homegrin.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like that's how highly touted Jadenhardy was coming out of high school.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, he kind of made a misstep by not
[SPEAKER_00]: go in a college like I think teams like UCLA and Arizona and Kentucky, you know, recruited him, but he chose to forego the NCAA and decided to play with the G League Ignite instead.
[SPEAKER_00]: Got paid a little bit more, et cetera, et cetera.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I think that did not do him well as evidence by where he got drafted.
[SPEAKER_00]: But essentially,
[SPEAKER_00]: He struggled out of the gate with the G league ignite in 2021, 22 in 12 games he averaged 17.7 points, which isn't that bad, 4.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.3 steals per game, showing off that 6 foot 9 wingspan.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's statline in it of itself.
[SPEAKER_00]: Those are pretty good numbers, but then you look at a shooting percentage, and this is the G league, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: 35% from the field and 27% from three, knocking down 1.8 three pointers made per game.
[SPEAKER_00]: So with a gling ignite, it seemed like he was just chucking.
[SPEAKER_00]: And while the 17, 4.6, 3.2 splits are nice, the 35% from the field and the 27% from three, I think really tanked his value and then teams just kind of saw him as another cam Thomas, sort of small guard chucker, who was inefficient.
[SPEAKER_00]: So what ended up happening is in the 2022 NBA draft, he ended up slipping and this was a guy by the way.
[SPEAKER_00]: who was slated to be like a top five top 10 lottery pick in that draft.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you had just gone to college and put up like had better, you know, teammates around him, maybe lesser competition, maybe was more efficient.
[SPEAKER_00]: He may have stayed a, a lot of pick, but because of his Paul Tree G league ignite stats, he ended up slipping to the number 37th pick was drafted by the Sacramento Kings before being traded immediately to the Dallas Mavericks.
[SPEAKER_00]: Last season, he obviously got traded to the Washington Wizards in the Anthony Davis trade, but yeah, it's crazy how good this dude was coming out of high school.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's almost like he had this like Cam Reddish type of pedigree and unfortunately it seems like he also had the Cam Reddish sort of reality check when it came to the NBA.
[SPEAKER_00]: Although Cam Reddish was still a number nine pick, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Jaden Hardy got the reality check pretty early on because he slipped all the way to the second
[SPEAKER_00]: But even given that, I would still say that he's had a decent enough career given those circumstances, but definitely not to the extent that he maybe should have had given how touted he was coming out of high school.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, he was a number two, number three prospect in the 2021 class heading into, you know, that
[SPEAKER_00]: 2022 NCAA season.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now I will say during his rookie year with the Dallas Mavericks in the G league, he vastly improved his numbers.
[SPEAKER_00]: In 11 games he averaged 28.8 points per game.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe he was playing with the Texas legends.
[SPEAKER_00]: At the time, the Dallas Mavericks affiliate, I forget if that's what they're called, but anyways, who is playing for the Dallas Mavericks affiliate his rookie season and in the G league he had averages of 28.8 points per game 4.5 rebounds 3.6 assists 0.7 steals, but this time he managed to up his efficiency by.
[SPEAKER_00]: insane amounts.
[SPEAKER_00]: Instead of 35% from the field and 27% from three, he shot 55% from the field and 49% from three knocking down 4.33 pointers made per game.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's quite the jump from 35 and 27 at 1.83 pointers made to 55 49 4.3.
[SPEAKER_00]: And actually he had a pretty decent to solid rookie season with the Dallas Mavericks as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he kind of rebounded from his, you know,
[SPEAKER_00]: bad Geely Gignite season before he ended up getting drafted in the NBA.
[SPEAKER_00]: So there is, so those are pretty much some interesting facts about Jayden Hardy and his basketball career.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's really quickly take a look at his career stats.
[SPEAKER_00]: As I mentioned his rookie year, he actually wasn't bad.
[SPEAKER_00]: He had his second highest scoring average of his NBA career.
[SPEAKER_00]: 8.8 points and just 14.8 minutes.
[SPEAKER_00]: shot 40.4% his rookie season 1.33 pointers made and he's really only played bit roles for the Dallas Mavericks right averaging anywhere from like 12 to 15 minutes his highest minutes total was in 2024 25 when the average 15.9 minutes per game put up 8.7 points per game 1.63 bounds clearly in how to rebounder 1.46 per game 38.6% from 3
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, last season, he had his highest volume of three point makes 1.8 in total, but with a Washington wizards in 23 games granted, this was obviously looter in a riot situation.
[SPEAKER_00]: He played 20.4 minutes per game in those 23 games and averaged 12.6 points.
[SPEAKER_00]: hit 2.53 pointers by far his highest average 3. shooting wise and shot 42% with the wizard.
[SPEAKER_00]: So those are really good numbers.
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, given the fact that he's a good catch and shoot 3. point shooter in a brick glass in case of emergency situation, it's not bad to have a guy like Jayden Hardy just hanging out on your bench.
[SPEAKER_00]: And obviously he has familiarity and some chemistry with Luca Donchich.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he was part of that
[SPEAKER_00]: Dallas Maverick's team that went to the NBA finals.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I wouldn't totally discount Jaden Hardy may be giving us a little bit something something if injuries hit.
[SPEAKER_00]: The other thing I want to point out though about Jaden Hardy is as I was watching some of his tape
[SPEAKER_00]: even though his assist numbers don't necessarily shout this out, he's not a bad pastor and he's not as much of a black hole with tunnel vision as I thought.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's something somewhat encouraging about his game.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought initially when I would watch his tape that he was just a strict camp Thomas like just past at the last resort sort of guy, but he actually makes some nice reads in the flow of an offense without being too much of a
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I'm a little bit encouraged by that as well, that he's a willing pastor and he can actually make some pretty solid reed, especially in transition.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Not a bad sort of, you know, combo to have.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's almost like you're getting like,
[SPEAKER_00]: sourd on the NBA yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, lastly, let's take a look at some of his best games on the NBA in his career.
[SPEAKER_00]: In 2022, 23, he put up 29 points, 11 of 25 from the field, six of 15 from three, nine of 10 from the stripe, eight rebounds, five assists, three steals, one block.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a really nice stat line.
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, I guess showing off his six foot nine wingspan with those
[SPEAKER_00]: in 2023-24.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know who he did this against, but he had a game where he put up 25 points, nine of 19 from the field, five of 12 from three, seven of eight from the stripe, nine rebounds, nine assists, kind of just showing you his versatility, almost a triple double, and then three steals and one block again, some nice stocks numbers.
[SPEAKER_00]: In 2024, 25, he put up 25 points again, 10 of 19 from the field, the five of 12 from three, five rebounds, five assist, three steals and two blocks,
[SPEAKER_00]: Those are some nice numbers.
[SPEAKER_00]: The problem with him though, is that
[SPEAKER_00]: seems like he's a very turnover prone player as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would say that's another thing that hindered him in his, uh, Geely Ignite season and probably hindered him throughout his NBA career.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't take care of the ball that well, um, but yeah, he can put up 25 points on any given night and he definitely get hot.
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, I do like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not as much of a black hole as I thought and he can actually pass the ball a little bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: And these stocks numbers are pretty enticing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, the 6 foot 9 wing span is not something to turn your nose out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, he's out of couple of 25 point games.
[SPEAKER_00]: He had a 25 point game last season, nine of 19 from the field, knocking down seven of 13 from three, five rebounds, fiveuses, two steals, one block.
[SPEAKER_00]: So clearly when he gets minutes, he can put up these versatile stat lines, but he's in spite of what you see with regards to the stock's numbers.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not a good defender.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a very small six foot four at best, more like six foot three,
[SPEAKER_00]: And so he's going to be a defensive liability for sure for the Lakers, but
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, again, we are leaving no stir, no stir.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are leaving no stone unturned here on the Lakers Legacy podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's my player profile on Jayden Hardy to make sure that we cover all of our bases because he is currently still on the team.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's gonna be in Slovenia with the rest of the guys if he's not traded between now and then in any coming good type deal.
[SPEAKER_00]: If I had to guess, he's still probably going to be shipped out before the February trade deadline, because he is essentially an expiring six million dollar contract.
[SPEAKER_00]: The liquors do have a team option on him for next year at about the same amount.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if they're trying to maximize what they have, I think Jayden Hardy is probably best used as an expiring deal for a team that needs to get off of some money.
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, he could be used in a trade as soon as
[SPEAKER_00]: tomorrow, if we trade for Jonathan coming in a sign and trade deal.
[SPEAKER_00]: So just keep that in mind, but having said that you can't, you can't blame me for, you know, never talking about Jaden Hardy.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've done it.
[SPEAKER_00]: If I made an Alex Len video last season, then for sure, I have to do a Jaden Hardy video.
[SPEAKER_00]: And actually, you know, the Alex Len video was two seasons ago.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I can't believe I made an Alex Len breakdown video, but here we are.
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, you know, it's the
[SPEAKER_00]: Alright, with that said, that'll do it for this show.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you guys for watching.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I plan to potentially do a mailbag Q&A for my next live.
[SPEAKER_00]: It'll be very low key.
[SPEAKER_00]: I won't have as many charts and all this stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm trying to do more strip down things.
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[SPEAKER_00]: please keep a look out for the link for that live, planning to do it on Sunday, drop your questions in the YouTube post that I post or on X.
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