Jazz Make HUGE Walker Kessler Mistake!? Quentin Grimes, Jonathan Kuminga Updates

Jazz Make HUGE Walker Kessler Mistake!? Quentin Grimes, Jonathan Kuminga Updates

Restricted free agency has not been kind to another number of players this summer, including Jonathan Kaminga and Quinton Grimes. We’ve got an update on them. But first, an intriguing young big man about to hit the restricted free agent market himself with his team not coming to terms on an extension. I’m talking about the Utah Jazz rim protector, Walker Kesler. What’s this going to mean? I’m Trevor Lane. This is the Basketball Bulletin. Make sure you subscribe right here to the channel. Joining me is Donnie Freeman. Donnie, I’m a little bit surprised. I mean, the Jazz should be investing in young, talented players. That’s what Walker Kesler is, and they are not going to sign him to an extension. Instead, he will become a restricted free agent next summer. Um, I do think the restricted tag is certainly important here. The Jazz aren’t looking to just lose Walker Kesler for nothing, and they’re not at risk of doing that, but I’m still a bit surprised that they’re not trying to get an extension done right now with him. Yeah. Really quick, I want to deviate and say uh on a side note, I am extremely happy that we are done with summer. Um I am very happy that it is now fall and I looked at the temperatures just before we got on and they they were in the 90s and now all the days are going to be in the low 80s, high 70s and I’m like let’s go, baby. It’s it’s my time of year. I’m super excited. Basketball’s coming back. It’s a great time, man. I’m I’m really excited. I got a little bit of drizzle out there. I was like, man, it never dribble drizzles out here. Like dribbles uh never drizzles out here this time of year. I was like, “Oh, man. It’s it’s it’s that time.” So, I’m excited about that. But, uh yeah. So, so are you telling me you’re breaking out all the pumpkin spice then? Uh well, pumpkin spice. I I I I’m not a big pumpkin spice flavor guy or like a like a pumpkin anything flavor guy really, but but but there will be some sweets hopefully uh you know going around the house this time of year with all the you know my kids are going to do trick-or-treating and we’re going to put the candy away but I’m going to do what they did to me when I was a kid and just eat all the candy. So there it goes. No, I’m not going to do that. Riding the kids candy bags. You know what I swear I never saw after candy. Oh my god. Right. That’s why he didn’t want to extend Kesler here. He’s like, I don’t know. Exactly. Uh on on the Kesler thing back to basketball. Um you know, that’s pretty interesting because he’s had a pretty rocky run here. Like I still think he’s a great player, a guy that they should be investing in for the future. Um and he’s obviously shown development. He’s just really good at what he does. Rim protection, rebounding, finishing around the rim. Um and a lot of teams could really use that skill set. He’s great at deterring shots especially. Um, but they’re in this situation where they kind of still need like he’s like right on the fringe awesome. Yeah. He’s going to be in his age 24 season. Yeah, he’s like he’s like right on the fringe. So, I think he could still be a part of your core, but I do think that they need to lock up some of the other guys here and he’s going to want big money because of that skill set and because of how coveted he’s been. And so they probably maybe talked about it with him, but weren’t able to reach a number that satisfied both parties. Uh I’m just looking at the numbers here. He negatively impacted opponent’s field goal percentage at the rim. 10% by 10 chopping 10% off of opponent’s field goal percentage at the rim compared to their average. Like he is a legitimate elite rim protector. Is he does he have the greatest hands? No. Right. He’s not this allworld center, but he 24 years old, he fits the time frame. He is what a lot of teams are looking for at the center position. So, what do you think would be reasonable? I mean, if this was if you could get Barker Kesler on a what is it 20 million a year? Think he do you think he asked for like the what Kaminga was looking for and Josh and all those? I think he’s looking for 25 and that’s the problem. I that’s what I was thinking about with him. Like in today’s market, like a couple of years ago, he might have been a guy that took like a 456 deal or something like that. But in today’s market, he’s probably looking for more like 480 or 490, something like that. Hopefully not 4100. He’d have to come out and be play really big this year, but probably something like that um to really extend with them. And and I just don’t think that they’re in the right situation for that yet. And I mean, ultimately, they’re going to have to lock up these guys and start building something here. You don’t want to let him go when you found a player that can be your long-term center. Um, but I think he probably is asking for something that they’re just not comfortable with at this point. Otherwise, why isn’t it done? Look at the rim protection. Look at the rebounding. 99th percentile. 95th percentile this past season in in block percentage. And then and here’s what really makes Walker Kesler so exciting. It’s that block percentage combined with his foul percentage. 87th percentile on foul foul percentage. You’ll have guys who chase blocks like crazy and so their block percentage is high but they foul a bunch in the process. He doesn’t do that. He defends without fouling. That’s so critical. And then you look at the rebounding as well. 95th percentile in offensive rebounding relative to bigs. 84th percentile in defensive rebound. Like he does big man things very very well. I I do think there’s something to this idea that that maybe the Utah Jazz are a little bit worried about, you know, their long-term financial piece and all that, but I also think the Jazz are the Jazz looking at what happened in restricted free agency right now. Yeah. This summer and saying, “Yeah, we’ll go ahead and let you hit restricted free agency and then we get to squeeze you next summer.” I do wonder how much of a factor that is. That’s possible. If I’m if I’m Kesler, I really don’t want to deal with that headache. But if there’s a huge Yeah. If there’s a big disconnect with what he wants, then he’s going to have to go out there this season and prove that he’s worth whatever that number is and it’ll be on the Jazz to offer that to him and they’ll go from there. But, you know, I I I don’t think they’re going to let him go because if that was the case, I think they would have taken some of those offers that were out there last year, particularly from like the Lakers who really wanted Kesler and teams were trying to get Kesler because they saw all the things we just talked about, how he’s got a very, very good skill set for what a lot of these teams need from their centers. Um, but they didn’t bite on any of those. So, I’d have to imagine that they’re going to try to keep him. I I think the nightmare that restricted free agency has been from the players perspective this summer only emboldens the Jazz to play hard ball with Walker Kesler. And if he wants four years, 100 million, you’re not giving him that. You’re saying, “Well, we’re not really at risk of losing you for nothing. You can be next summer’s Jonathan Kaminga. You can be next summer’s Quinton Grimes or any of these other guys and and we’re still not going to lose you for nothing.” So, I think that’s, you know, that’s where the Utah Jazz can sit. Speaking of which, let’s indeed. And by the way, everybody watching, let me know in the comments what you think Walker Kesler is worth. How much should he get? But let’s get into an update on the Quinton Grimes situation and a little bit on Jonathan Kamingo. We’ll get there right after this from Shan Strania. Over on sleeper, I’m taking Kyler Murray to get more than.5 passing yards because of course, thank you for the free square there. Malik Neighbors, I’m going to say new quarterback Jackson Dart hyperargets him and he finds his way into the end zone. And Dak Prescott tough sledding in Dallas. Snow CD Lamb, 242 and a half passing yards. I’m going to say Dak does not get there. If you agree with me, you disagree, turn your football knowledge into real money with the Sleeper app. The ultimate fantasy sports app that can turn game day into payday. Just download the Sleeper app and pick more or less on your favorite players with more stats than any other daily fantasy app. Choose two or more of your favorite players from pregame or live. Pick more or less from the predicted stats, and you can win up to 1,000 times your money if your picks win. Use promo code bulletin and you’ll get up to a $100 match on your first deposit. Terms and conditions apply. See Sleeper’s terms of use for details. Currently operational in over 25 states. Check out Sleeper today. All right, here’s Sean Strania talking about the restricted free agents that are out there, specifically Quinton Grimes. And I think this is going to be maybe a little bit alarming for uh for Sixers fans. Check this out. One looming roster move that is yet to happen here. Shams for the 76ers. What more can you tell us? It’s the restricted free agency of Quinton Grimes. And I’m told both of these sides are very far apart on a deal. Quinton Grimes agent, David Bowman, told me today that it was the first time today that the Sixers made a formal hard offer to Grimes as a restricted free agent. And Bowman added to like, hold on, we need to stop right there. The Today, it’s September 20. This is the first time the the Sixers have made a real Whoa. Whoa. I heard that Fidian slip. You You want to talk about the Clippers so bad? I heard that. You almost said the Sixers. The If it was the If it was the Clippers, uh it would be a a offer that would be firmly planted in the soil. I know that would All right, man. I’ve had enough. Oh, no. Um, but is that a surp like that here we are, it’s the end of September and this is the first real offer the Sixers have made to Quinton Grimes. Absolutely. Like I I’m sure that they’ve talked and said, “Hey, well, if you’re interested, what does that number look like?” Things like that, but they’ve not actually put a formal offer on paper in front of him until today. That is pretty interesting because even in the Kuminga situation, we’ve we’ve heard about offers and all that stuff being out there and being positioned to him and them declining it or counter offering, etc. So him being in a situation where they haven’t done that yet, absolutely surprising. But I I think that they’re like like Shams proceeds to say, they’re in a weird situation this year because they’ve got so many question marks around this team and the health of this team and they’ve got Edgecomb there and it’s just there’s just kind of a weird situation overall with them. And then also we talked about it a lot with Giddy. Uh Grimes is the ultimate you are paying for half a season here. like his stats really ballooned when he got much more opportunity post everybody getting injured uh in Philly. Yeah, you look at I mean he was a a 10 and 10 three and two guy uh in Dallas goes to Philly with you know the ghost town what was left of a decimated injured Sixers side 22 five and four and a half uh pretty solid percentages as well 49% for the field 37% from look at the minutes and attempts too yeah I mean everything shot way up so if you’re Quinton Grimes man if I’m Quitting Grimes I’m going this is my chance right now probably not putting up 225 and four or five and five anytime soon. He’s only 24 years old, but still this is your time, right, to to strike. And so I get it why if I’m Quinton Grimes, I’m I’m trying to drive a hard bar here, but it’s sounding like he’s not even going to get a deal done with them at all. Let’s get back to this. Shams goes into why he thinks the qualifying offer is probably going to be accepted here. Me that Grimes will not be attending 76ers media day on Friday. He also will not be traveling with the team this weekend to Abu Abu Dhabi for preseason. From the 76ers side of this all getting BJ Edgecom in the high lottery. Obviously that changes the dynamics of their back court and there is a level of uncertainty going into this year healthwise with key players like Joel Embiid, Paul George. And where does that lead the Sixers in terms of offering those high value, high multi-year deals? where this is really going, where these sides are staring at is that $ 8.7 million one-year qualifying offer for Grimes or sign and trade or potentially one-year larger deal where Grimes would wave his no trade clause. But this is really heading down the barrel as we get close to October one of a potential qualifying offer deal. And there, okay, so Quinton Grimes, if he takes the qualifying offer, remember he would have a full no trade clause. Uh it would be about $8.7 million and he would be an unrestricted free agent next summer. Shams brings up the possibility that hey the 76ers they’re in such a spot capwise with Joel Embiid and Paul George two of if not maybe the worst contract they could be the two worst contracts now NBA play good this year they are yeah if if they both have and I hope they don’t obviously you know and Joel Embiid already he is uh along with Zion Williamson and Luca Donic Joel Embiid shed weight uh this summer and so I hope they stay on the floor, but if they suffer injury plague seasons again, those are going to be just about immovable th those contracts. And so the Sixers are looking at saying, man, if we lock up Quinton Grimes long-term, too. Plus, we have Joel Embiid and Paul George on the books. Uh Tyrese Maxis on the books, which that’s not a bad thing. And we’ve got VJ Edgecom who is probably going to encroach upon Grimes role and limit there’s going to be diminishing returns there because VJ Edgecom who looked fantastic over the summer he’s going to take over a lot of the stuff that Grimes is doing anyway. I get why there would be some hesitation but Shams brought up I thought a really interesting possibility. What if the 76ers effectively buy Quinton Grimes out of his no trade clause? That’s really what would that that would be. He brought up a one-year deal for more money than the qualifying offer upon the contingency that he would wave the inherent no trade clause that would come with that one-year deal, which you are allowed to do. What do you think about that? What if if you’re Quint Grimes, what would it cost? Like, would you need rather than 8.7 million, would you take 13 million for one year and the Sixers will have the the ability to trade you? What would you what would you sell your no trade clause for for effectively? I I couldn’t help but chuckle at this because this is the exact thing we heard about Kuminga. Like they were trying at one point to get this type of deal done, but the Warriors were like, “No, we’re not doing that.” But Kuminga valued it, I believe, at the full 22 max that he could get, just one year that and then going on. Um that would be what you would need to pay him to take one of these deals where he buy him out of that. But um for Grimes, yeah, I think something around mid-level probably would work. 13 14 in that range. Yeah, something like that for sure. I think probably would work for him. Um and that’s a nice tradable contract, too, if you’re talking about the Sixers, you know, making some moves mid-season. Yeah, that would be pretty good for him uh in terms of that if they’re not able to come to terms with stuff uh in terms of a new deal. But I I do wonder how much he values um the the no trade in this anyway because maybe he asked for more if he’s worried about going to a different situation that’s not great for him, right? He would he would lose his bird rights if he got traded. If he waved the trade and that’s that’s why right that’s why there’s the concern about a one-year contract and then getting traded. You wouldn’t have bird rights. But how valuable are his bird rights with the Sixers really anyway? Like if VJ Edgecomb is a breakout rookie this year, which I I think he’s gonna have a very good year. Yeah. How willing are the Sixers to commit long term to Quinton Grimes anyway? It gets kind of have that much value. Yeah, it gets kind of hard because your back court is kind of crowded at that point with Edgecomb, Maxi, McCain. That’s not to say he can’t play alongside some of these guys. He could log some minutes as well as like a small three, things like that. It’s not to say he can’t, but I think that you’ve already got a lot of money on your books. You’re going to need to pay some of these other guys pretty soon here. How much do you really value, you know, retaining him at a decent number as the player as opposed to maybe a trade asset? I do wonder about that overall, but I I think that it gets kind of tricky. I think Edgecomb really changes things a lot for for what this team is projected to be and their depth overall because like I said, I think Grimes gets a lot of opportunity because I don’t expect PG to be fully healthy throughout the season. For example, that’s another guy that he’s going to play behind um in in the normal rotation if everybody’s healthy. Um so I I think he’s going to get a lot of opportunity, but I don’t know if he’s going to get enough opportunity to really show what he can do. So I that’s where it’s a little tricky for him the player, but for the organization it looked almost like he needs a lot of opportunity to really balloon. He had some good seasons prior to that, of course, in limited roles, but I do wonder about that as well. What What would that be? Like 15 minutes 3 and D type guy, put the ball in your hands a little bit. Like is he really wanting to take that type of role? Maybe if if they were a like a legitimate title contender that everyone agreed on, you know, consensus that they are that, but they’re not because they’re not healthy. like we don’t know. They could win it, but they probably won’t because they’re not healthy often. So, I don’t know. If you’re Quinton Grimes, you either want to get paid for the numbers that you put up during the portion of a it’s I mean, it’s closer to a quarter of a season really uh with the 76ers post trade deadline last year or you want the opportunity to put up numbers like that again. And so then you can really if you’re not going to get paid for those numbers, you want the opportunity to go do it again. And that way you can get paid based on that on that production because there’s a big difference in terms of what kind of a check teams are going to be willing to write between 10 three and two and 225 and five, right? So if you are quitting even if that drops down a little bit 18 four and four or something like that, right? Uh that would be a you know generational money that you’d be you’d be getting. not so on the previous numbers that we saw with Dallas. So it matters a lot I think to to Quinton Gra that should anyway matter a lot what his role is going to be somewhere and that’s where I can understand the value for him of picking up the qualifying offer and being able to direct his landing spot. Just because he has a no trade doesn’t mean he can’t be traded. It just means that he has the ability to say no thank you and block that trade. So I I do think that’s there’s something to that too. He needs opportunity. not all that dissimilar from Jonathan Kaminga who says, “Hey, I’m a I’m a multi-time all-star player. I just need to be in a place that will allow me to do that.” And again, the dynamic is different between the Warriors and Kaminga and Grimes and the Sixers, but there are similarities here where he needs to be in a spot where he can really showcase his talents. And if he’s not going to be there, then he’s going to want to get paid for that inconvenience of not being in a in a place where he can do those things. Um, I I will say this could negatively impact the Sixers going into training camp. obviously already he’s not going to go to Abu Dhabi with him. By the way, Donnie, you talked about weather. I went to Abu Dhabi on my recent trip. Mhm. Oh my god. I’ve never felt heat like that. Dude, I spent 14 years living in Phoenix and I’ve never felt felt heat like that. That was, you know, you talk about like the desert being dry heat. Abu Dhabi was like Arizona level temperatures but also crazy humidity. That was I’m never going there. That was the most uncomfortable heat I have ever felt that. So that’s what the 76ers are walking into. But Grimes is not going to go with them. Could that be a setback as they get into the season if he’s not there? Obviously, he has to make a decision here though by October 1st. Same thing with Jonathan Kaminga. By the way, I should note Shams did talk about Jonathan Kaminga, too. But really, it was just that he’s no update really. It’s just well he he said he’s in the same situation where they’re putting together a little get together thing and he’s also not going right. So it’s it’s kind of the same thing where these guys are just kind of not around the team and that is a distraction until it’s not anymore. One thing I wonder about the Warriors is like do they got the other guys at this little get together? You know the other guys that are just pending or are they right like that? Like is it just like a oh just you’re here but you know you’re not really here type thing. I don’t know. the Warriors, given how many players they actually have signed right now. Yeah. Like when they are getting together, can they get by with like just one Uber XL? Probably two. They’re pretty close to it, right? They got what, like nine guys on their roster now. They get an XL and a regular an XL an XL and a and a regular Uber and and they’re off and running. Um but I I wonder if they’re there like if they’re just they’ve got them right there. like, hey, just we know that this isn’t going, but we still want you to be a part of all this stuff. And you know, but Kuminga is not going to be there. Like I said, that could be a distraction. Um, and this whole entire situation around these restricted guys is a distracted or a distraction regardless of who you’re talking about. But obviously, Kumingas is of a much higher scale because we’ve talked about it all summer long and it’s for the Golden State Warriors. But, um, these are going to have to reach a resolution here in what, a week? A week from today? Yeah. I mean, October 1st is limit. But I’ll tell you this, week, right? Yeah. If I’m Quinton Grimes, if I am Jonathan Kaminga, I’m taking it right up until the buzzer. He’s taking Why take the qualifying offer right now, right? If it’s if the qualifying offer is going to be, for Grimes case, 8.7 million today or 8.7 million a week from now. It can’t change. Yeah. Why not wait and see if the Sixers get a little bit nervous? Same thing with Kaminga. Wait and see if the Warriors get a little bit nervous and then strike that deal. If you’re going to I don’t know if I fully buy Kaminga is going to take the qualifying offer, but in the case of Grimes, it seems to make a lot of sense. Unless they do budge and they give you something that you want. Might as well wait. If you’re leaning towards the qualifying offer right now, there is no reason to sign it right now. You might as well wait until the first. I feel pretty confident that Grimes is going to take a one-year deal, whether it’s the qualifying or the balloon. Uh, I think he’s going to take one of those and try to play up his value and show that he could do it for a full season and or at least, you know, obviously lesser role, get more money. Yeah. Of course, next summer. Um, but for Jonathan, the the other thing about the Jonathan thing is that he is holding up in their entire transaction cycle. And so, like, we’ve joked about this, but if if he holds until the last minute, the Warriors are going to have to buck first. like they’re going to have to be like you like we can’t let this go until the day of training camp. Like it just happened and Draymond and Jimmy get to use the company card to pay for their Uber and Al Horford standing off to the side. He’s got to cover it on his own because he’s not technically on the team. Like you just can’t let that happen. So the Warriors are going to ha they’re going to have to find some sort of middle ground. Whether that’s also like a a one-year balloon, but that’s like they basically were saying a few things were non-starters for the Warriors. They didn’t want to do a player option. They didn’t want to do a short-term one-year deal. So those two things were off the table, but okay, let’s do a two, threeyear deal. No strings attached. Let’s try to figure something out at that. Then the rest of it becomes money. Well, he wants closer to the mid20s. They want low 20s year that deal. Yeah, exactly. That’s what I’m saying. Something’s going to have to something’s going to have to budge there. And then also they wanted more money in the second year because Kaminga is artificially capped at what is it? 22 and a half this first year. Yeah. So there’s just kind of a lot there. But I I mean these are going to have to resolve and I think that Grimes is more likely to take a one-year and I think Kaminga they’re going to figure something out because he is holding their entire transaction like like I would be surprised if we get even three days out and that’s not resolved. I would expect something this weekend probably. Yeah. Seth Curry, Al Horford, DeAnthony Melton, all these guys just kind of sitting around waiting. Just waiting. Yeah. Like there’s no way this goes. Could you imagine if this actually does go all the way? Like I we’ve been joking about it. They’re going to be like, “Hey, Seth, we know you’re in town. You’re at the brother’s house. Come on, get a contract going.” I mean, I I really do wonder how many teams have tested their resolve. How many teams have have called Al Horford and said, “Hey, I’ve got a contract for you right now. You can you don’t have to wait. You can sign it right this minute.” I think it’s super cool that they’ve that they’ve said, “I’m just going to wait on the Warriors because we understand this process.” Like, that’s that’s actually really cool because I if I was a player, I’m gonna be honest with you, I I I have no prior loyalty to that team. They they don’t really have Melton’s also kind of interesting because he got traded. We’ve got a little breaking news involved in this situation. Sorry. Is he Is he doing it? Quinton Grimes and his camp proposed for the qualifying offer deadline to be extended to October 8th to give both sides an extra week to try to hammer out a deal. I didn’t even know you could even do that. Yeah, you can do that. But in general, it’s not something you t like if you you’ve got all summer like if you can’t get something done. But to me, that could be a great sign. And that’s from Tony Jones. That could be a great sign for the Sixers that cuz why do that unless you feel like you have at least a path towards getting a deal done. Yeah, for sure. Um there may be something here. I think it’s probably that one-year deal. Unless he’s going to take like a two-year MLE type deal. Uh I I don’t know. Maybe maybe he does take something like that with a option in the second year. Something like that winds up happening. But that’s that’s certainly interesting. I didn’t even know you could extend it like that. But that I mean Grimes also like it’s a it’s a distraction. Not going to do it. Oh yeah, there’s zero chance. He is not helping the Warriors in any way, shape, or form. Um if you don’t have something by then, it’s it’s wraps. Like he’s like I’m I’m done with this. Um, but Grimes like he’s not I don’t I think that they can keep things moving and do what they need to do in Philly regardless of how long this takes to to play out for Grimes ultimately. Absolutely. Absolutely. All right. Well, everybody give us your thoughts in the comments down below. What do you think happens with Quinton Grimes and the Philadelphia 76ers? What about Jonathan Kaminga and the Warriors? And are the Jazz making a mistake by not reaching an extension with Walker Kesler? Or does the dire nature of restricted free agency protect them and they’re doing the right thing here? Give us your thoughts again in the comment section. Don’t forget to subscribe to the channel. Till next time everybody. See you and stay safe.

In this video Trevor Lane and Donnie Freeman discuss the news that the Jazz will not be extending the contract of Walker Kessler and what that means for him as he heads to free agency, plus Quentin Grimes and Jonathan Kuminga restricted free agency updates…

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