Shaedon Sharpe, Toumani Camara Sign Contract Extensions | Trail Blazers Secure FUTURE on Great Deals

Shaedon Sharpe, Toumani Camara Sign Contract Extensions | Trail Blazers Secure FUTURE on Great Deals

In today’s show, the Trailblazers signed Shaden Sharp and Tumani Kamar the contract extensions securing the future and probably getting really good deals in the process. Welcome to Locked on Blazers. Let’s get into it. You are Locked On Trailblazers, your daily Portland Trailblazers podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. What’s up world? It’s your pass first point guard and trailblazers reporter Mike Richmond. You’re listening to another episode of Locked on Blazers, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, available wherever you get podcast and also on YouTube. Thanks for making this show your first listen. Coming at you each and every weekday, Monday through Friday. So make it a part of your daily routine. Make it your first listen. Tell your friends to do the same as Locked on Blazers, your team every day. In today’s program, the future has been secured. The Trailblazers locked up Tummani Kamara and Shaden Sharp on four-year contract extensions that will kick in next season. They’ve got players who are talented under contract on the pretty dang cheap. It looks like this was a super duper home run for the franchise. We’ll get into Shaden’s deal. We’ll get into Tumani’s deal. The Blazers also completed their roster for this season by signing Javvante Cook to their final two-way spot. Let’s freaking go. It’s here. The season is upon us. Let’s get into it. We’re going to talk about all of that today. Let’s start with Shaden Sharp. Shaden Sharp agrees to a 4-year $90 million contract. Um Sharp had until Monday, October 20th. Well, you listen to Monday, October 20th program. Uh he had until Monday, October 20th to reach an agreement on a contract extension. otherwise he would have gone to the season, played out the final year of his rookie deal deal and entered restricted free agency next summer. Um, you know, restricted free agency has been pretty unkind to restricted free agents like to players um over the last four or five years uh and particularly this summer incredibly unkind. There are more teams that have cap space. And while they are bad teams, Shaden Sharp is young enough that the Brooklyn’s and the uh and the Charlottes of the world could potentially, you know, make some decisions to clear cap space in order to acquire Shaden Sharp. And if he really pops off this season, there’s a chance that the price really goes up. There’s also a chance that it doesn’t go up, but at this figure, there’s basically no risk. Let’s get into that. Here’s why I think that I first of all, uh, this is clearly some really good negotiating. Um, if there was a quibble I have with this, I would have tried to get it to five years and I would have come up on the average annual value to get to 5 years. If you’re if you’re a long time listener to the program, shout out to my everydayers, you know, the number that I have been floating out there is 5 for 115. 5 for 115 and 4 for 90 is basically the same average annual value. I just wanted would have wanted a fifth year. I would assume what this is um without reporting it, unable to confirm this with with anyone uh involved in the convers involved in the um negotiations, contract negotiations as I’m recording this on Sunday evening. Um is that my assumption here is that uh the Blazers were this is about the average annual value they wanted to come uh they wanted to land at. And the sharps camp, Clutch Sports, was willing to sign at this number for four years, but if they were going to tack on a fifth year, they were wanted to come up. And the Blazers said, “We don’t want to come up. Let’s just stay here at four years.” It um this basically the trade-off for not getting the fifth year is this really light contract. Um it starts at about $20 million, which is 12% of the cap. Um that’s just in the upcoming year. It stays below 13% projected through the lifetime of the contract, according to the numbers here from Keith Smith of Spotra. Um, Keith’s the best. Appreciate you, Keith. So, basically, you have Sharp signed, obviously, he’s finishing up the final year of his rookie year deal this year, and then you have him signed through his 26th birthday, through the 2930 season on a 40-year deal that never pays him more than 13% of the salary cap. This is a really good deal. And why I say it has no risks, no risks, is because, okay, I guess there’s anything has inherent risks. Why I think it has very limited downside is because if Shaden Sharp isn’t good, this era is sunk anyways, like the the the Blazers, this iteration of the Blazers kind of needs one of Shaden Sharp or Scoot Henderson to pop off. And while I do think outside of Portland, there’s a lot of people who think Scoo Henderson remains a much better prospect than Shaden Sharp, Shaden Sharp has been to date a more productive player and a more available player than Scoo Henderson. That’s with Shaden Sharp missing basically an entire year. missed 50 games during his second season. So, um like you know if Sharp doesn’t quote live up to this contract, they’re sunk anyways cuz he’s no good. Like if he’s just not like if he’s not starter level good and this is like starter level money, low-end starter money, um it doesn’t matter. They are sunk anyways. So, there’s no downside to it. And the upside is tremendous. I’ve been saying this about my 5 for15 number that I’ve been just making up out of thin air. um is like make it up. I would say uh educated guess based on some stuff like but if um you know if if sharp is freaking Jenz Desmond Mason or like you know low heartbeat Andrew Wiggins he like as opposed to some sort of loftier comps whatever like you know you’re just paying him money to be an okay you know a pretty good starter with some upside. I know Andrew Wiggins made an all-star team one year but he wouldn’t have on in other situations say all of the other ones he’s been except for that one year with the Warriors. Like if if COP if if Sharp doesn’t live up to the loftier comps, there’s not that much downside with a contract. Um like but if if Sharp does hit, the upside is tremendous. Tremendous. You’re looking at four years of staggeringly good contract. um perhaps one of the best contracts in the league if he hits depending on how he good he is by age 25 like um you know then you if he’s if he’s just like an absolute hooper at 25 you’re going to get two years of him at very cheap with an o like with with a real opportunity to be really good um obviously the most likely outcome is somewhere between um you know Andrew Wiggins with a little less fire and Toronto man’s Trace McGrady the rebirth but like somewhere in between a Hall of Famer and um and like a you a a pretty good player with even less motor. Um like if he lands in the middle, that’s like probably the most likely outcome for Sharp. Although Wiggins probably better than he’s been, and that’s kind of mean to Andrew Wiggins. I apologize. You know, if Sharp is is better than Desmond Mason, but not as good as Tracee McGrady, which is the sort of his his most likely outcome because most guys land in the middle, then this deal still has tremendous upside for the Blazers, or at least a lot of upside for the Blazers because it’s a slight slightly below market contract for a good player. If Shaden Sharp is your fifth starter and it’s like, hey, you know, he’s he doesn’t do a lot else, but he can get you 20 points, this is a great contract for someone with that. If he develops beyond that, it’s a steal. It’s a super duper hooper slam dunk. Like, it is it’s it is the chance for Sharp to outperform this deal is pretty high. And while that’s not like the end all beall for contracts, right, the best way to win in the NBA is to pay a really good player less than their market value. And if if Sharp like if Sharp pops this year right away and it like shows up immediately and he starts the he starts four-year contract looking like like he’s, you know, playing below market, wow, is that a great deal. But if he doesn’t, right, like if it if it’s I think the reason Sharp didn’t get this type of money and why Tumani Kamaro, who signed a four-year $82 million contract, got relatively similar money is because Sharp’s archetype isn’t really highly valued in the league. He is a two guard who doesn’t shoot particularly well. He has been a negative defender thus far in his career. And he’s not like a highle passer like as like a sort of secondary playmaker stuff. He’s a scorer. Well, he’s a relatively at this at this stage, right? He’s relatively onedimensional scorer. Okay. Well, um, if he remains that, right, like if he remains that, I I still don’t think this deal is a vast overpay. And again, if if it ends up being a vast overpay, this era of the Blazers was probably cooked anyway, so it doesn’t matter. But like I think typically with these rookie contract extensions in the past, you paid like a really hefty fee for potential, right? You paid you said, “Okay, you know, you’re not that good now, but we do think you’re like high-end outcomes are fantastic.” And Shaden Sharp’s high-end outcomes are still very very good because he’s just so talented. He’s like in the really, you know, top 3% of athletes in the league. Like he’s he’s really he’s obviously very special um physical talent. Uh and and he’s very young. So like in the past, you would have paid this hefty premium, right? I think he would have just like probably walked into 20% if not straight up max contract just because that’s how you did it. You gave someone $40 million annually. And and back in the day when like um you know back in the day maybe 40 years ago I think under this new cap climate um paired with sort of Sharp’s archetype like you know I I said on the show on Friday I thought Keegan Murray’s was contract was a little rich for my blood. I I thought I think that’s too much money for Keegan Murray. But why Keegan Murray is maybe valued higher across the league. He’s he’s just bigger. He plays defense. Like he’s had a year where he’s shot it well. Although he’s got shot worse each of the last two years. Um like regressed a little bit. Um, so like I just I just think there was there is a you know 3 four years ago where this this sort of contract for Sharp was unthinkable. Um because it’s because of how low the dollar value is. And now just in the new CBA I I don’t think Shade and Sharp felt like hey if I bet on myself I’m going to like win in free agency and also $90 million is a ton of money. And the Blazers didn’t have to negotiate against a whole lot here because they said like look around the league at people who kind of have your level of production. They’re not getting super paid. They’re not highly coveted. Blah blah blah blah blah. Like all these things the Blazers could argue against in some ways the markets and they got sharp on this this pretty darn good pretty darn good and potentially incredible deal. Um and potentially incredible deal. I again if you’re going to nitpick I think it’s that not getting a fifth year. I think you would have pushed for a fifth year, but perhaps this average annual value is so low that it’s like it’s really worth it. And four years of sharp potentially outplaying all of those is is really good. And like I said, there is very limited downside because um he’s either going to be paid accurately for what he is. Like that’s the actual downside to this. He’s either going to be well under market, paid actually for what he is, or he’s gonna he’s just like if if if Shane Sharp doesn’t like he’s just not a good basketball player, right? If he’s just like a seventh man. Um uh and like when he gets into sort of like his his fully if if like what he is right now is basically the fully formed Shade and Sharp then they were already in trouble. They were all the the the ship was already leaking. So um I love this deal for the Blazers. I think this is I think this is really really money for them. Um I’m going to mention this later in the show. I think these two contracts are the best contracts that Joe Cronin has ever signed. I think these are the best two moves in free agency he has ever made. Um and so to get sharp on this money is uh you know just like the the array of positive outcome the there’s a much wider chance of this being a below market deal and a really really uh tremendous upside for the like the Blazers books than it is that Sharp um that that Sharp sort of like is is no good for this contract. I think there’s so little downside in in this deal and potentially just an absolute winner. Uh let’s talk money in the second segment. Join me there, won’t you? First though, let’s talk Pelaton. They’re shaping the future of fitness with the brand new Pelaton Cross Training Tread Plus powered by Pelaton IQ. It’s their most advanced equipment yet designed to give you realtime guidance and endless ways to move whether you’re running, lifting, or crossraining with your favorite instructors. Uh the train this is training reimagined. like it. It’s Pelaton is built for breakthroughs and it’s got tools to help you plan, stay motivated, and reach peak performance. 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Tumani Kamar, four years, $82 million. His max is somewhere in the range of about depending on where it falls, it’s going to be somewhere in the range of like 87 to 90. Um uh how it works is because he was getting paid so little money um he doesn’t get to extend off his uh minimum contract. That would be unfair. instead because he makes so little money, he gets to extend off of the average salary uh uh plus 140% of the average salary in the NBA. So that won’t be calculated until uh what next year. So we won’t know what the absolute maximum that or until the end of the the end of this fiscal year for the NBA. So you won’t know the absolute maximum that Tumani could have signed for, but it’s it’s it’s somewhere in that 87 to 90 range. At one point it would looked like it was 90. Um it it’ll it it’ll be right there, but he gets four years $82 million. I mentioned Shaden Sharp’s uh percentage of the cap. He’s about 12% to 13% during the lifetime of the contract. Sumani Kamara at this figure is between 11% and 12% through the lifetime of the contract. Starters in the NBA typically make like uh like you know your the high-end players the maxes are for 25 30 and 35%. That’s like your superstars, right? But so below that you’re paying like high-end starters. It used to be 20% was like a really standard number. It looks like that is being driven down, but 14 to 16 is a pretty pretty normal number. Say 12 to 16 is a pretty is it 12 to 18 maybe if you’re going to stretch the edges. It’s like that’s what you’re thinking of like your third, fourth, and fifth starters. Um obviously like minimum guys make 1% of the cap. So that does kind of help man help uh balance things out. Um, so and you know like second round rookies that you that you are on the end of the bench. They like um they really help you pay other guys in that 15% range uh to if you’re want to do the quick math at home. I like this Tumani Kamar contract a lot. I called I called and this is this is like a real Mike Richmond thing because I’m a I’m a Tumani believer. Um but I I I thought extending Tumani Kamara was priority number one this off seasonason. And and to me it’s because I think his game just travels. Uh part of it like why I didn’t call uh Shaden Sharp that same thing is because uh Sharp is was going to hit restricted free agency like I I think there was even though like maybe his youth would would drive like the the Hornets and Hornets and Bulls and and uh and Nets of the world to like do create you know $35 million of cap space to to give Sharp a whole big bag. Um I just thought the Blazers they like they weren’t going to get burned right because there was no way he was going to walk. But because Tummani’s number was going to go up into the future and because um you know I I I think he’s like the type of player that helps on any good team so he would have a much wider array of suitors. I was a big proponent of just going ahead and giving Tumani as much money as they could because I also thought his maximum number which was going to come in at like you know average is is is you know around 11 and a half at this price but his average for his absolute max number was going to come in around 14%. Right? That’s like a very normal, that’s a very normal number to pay someone of his quality. Um, you know, obviously there’s some risk because Tummani is uh, you know, he’s a very good defensive player and I think that’s going to travel. I think he’s one of the best defensive players in the league. I think he’s like, you know, one of the 20 best defensive players in the league. He shot above average on increasing volume. If he can even up that volume even more this year and continue to shoot. He played very little in preseason so far, but the one game that he did play, he did look fantastic. Uh, the tiniest of sample sizes, but also the good version of the tiny sample sizes. Like if he pushes up towards like a 38 40% three-point shooter and takes seven and a half a game on average, like yeah, taking seven or eight threes a night, making 40% of them, defending at the level he does with the versatility he does, that’s a player who plays on every good team in the league. And my belief and why I was so such a proponent of of of giving uh to money is money was like if you’re trying to be good, this is the exact like type of role player locking in for a long period of time is really helpful for you to be good. And because um you know because there’s some risk next year of of uh this of this going up like um of the of the number going up and and him hitting restricted like the Blazers could be they could make him a restricted free agent next year. But there there’s um there’s even a world where he could if they didn’t want to make him a restricted free agent because they weren’t trying to pay him that he would get into unrestricted free agency the following summer, right? Like if they really wanted to keep him cheap and on the books. So there’s some risk because you go from paying him like $2.5 million in the 2627 season now to about his starting salary on this this extension is according to Keith Smith of spotrack uh $18.3 million obviously it’s like a big hit on the books right um when you didn’t necessarily have to take so there’s some r inherent risk there I will say uh smart person Kevin Pelton friend of the Pacific Northwest um he he thinks that this was too much risk he didn’t really like the tumani extension but I will say like talking to other folks who I think are like smart cappy types in the league um including to including Nate Duncan of Dun. It’s like uh Nate was all in on it. So I think it’s like some of this is eyes of the beholder. Um Pelton’s argument and I think this is one to consider like I talked about with Shane Sharp’s archetype not having a lot of value which probably helped the Blazers in in negotiations is that like folks like not too many players in the league like offensive players get paid more. Um like even if defense is is you know everyone said defense won championships uh I think offense has won a lot of championships recently in the NBA. Um, but like uh defenders typically don’t get the bag. Like that is there aren’t guys there aren’t like a lot of examples of like defenders getting a bunch of money. I think like Herb Jones and Dylan Brooks are relatively good examples, but as as Pelton brings up, um, some of those contracts are guys entering unrestricted free agency, so they were like actually flight risks as opposed to Tumani who was either going to be under a team option or um or a restricted free agent. So like the Blazers may have they may have in some ways bet against themselves with what they paid him. I don’t I don’t think I subscribe to that, but I think it’s worth like I want to give you the full picture. There are people in the smart people in this world who disagree and I do think like civil disagreements in a logical way is really valuable when we’re thinking about these things, right? Because my immediate gut is like that’s good money for Tumani. And I still do think that. Um but but I I think there is value in understanding those those um alternate opinions. So like now all of a sudden you’ve got Shaden Sharp locked up through the 2930 season. Tumani Kamara locked up through the 2930 season. Um, Tummani like I don’t know if he has a chance to like vastly outperform this contract, but he has a chance to be like if his offensive game grows like I like Shaden Sharp has like some sort of superstar upside that Tummani has like, you know, awesome role player upside, right? Unless Tumani develops some sort of like ability to really score on his own, like give him the ball and go score off his off the dribble, which if he does, like shoot, you’ve got a star. Um, but but I think that’s relatively unlikely for someone his age, but like is Tumani Kamaro better than Keegan Murray? I I would kind of lean yes. I I like that might be homerisism. So like Kings fans, I’m sorry. Um I’m not typically a homer on this stuff, but like I four for 82 or 5 for 40. Like, give me the g give me the um give me that 11% versus of the cat versus 18% if if you’re betting on someone who’s like uh roughly the same age as Keegan Murray and Tim Camaro. That’s I all day. Like I I I think there is um I think at the very least like Tumani can obviously outperform this can get better, but in the very least this is like this is a very fair deal and you’ve got him locked up right now. You have that security. Uh I want to talk about this. I think these are the two best contracts Joe Cone has ever signed. And um let’s talk about the Blazers situation with this with these contracts um in tow for for for the coming season. Uh I guess they’re for the 26th 27th season for the season that starts you know a year from Tuesday as opposed to Tuesday. Uh join me in that third segment. We will do just that. First though, let’s talk FanDuel, America’s number one sports book. And the folks that want to give you a great deal during the NFL season. You don’t want to miss this cuz right now, new customers to FanDuel can bet just $5 and get $300 in bonus bets if you win. That’s right. Pretty simple, right? Pick a bet you like, put down five bucks, and if it hits your first bet you make on the app, you’ll unlock $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Find something you like. Bet $5. Get 300 bucks to to to do whatever you want with and whatever you want. Parlays, player props, following games live and betting them, money lines, point spreads, whatever it is. Um, this can add another layer if you’re, you know, if you’re sitting on the couch watching football. Uh, you can add another layer to your viewing experience. So, what are you waiting for? Visit fanuel.com to download the FanDuel app today and get started. Today’s program is also brought to you by Game Time. It’s the place for buying lastminute tickets and it’s the place to help you get in the building. It’s the basketball season is here. You’re probably going to want to go to Trailblazer games. Um and you know if if if you’ve bought tickets before, you know it could be a headache. You’re waiting in cues. There’s surprise fees at checkout. The prices jump up right before you’re going to click that buy button. It’s like, wait, what’s going on? It’s it’s easy to get frustrated when all you want to do is get in the building and cheer on your pin wheels. 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This roster is complete. Not that Tummani Kamar or Shane Sharp were going anywhere. That’s the thing about contract extensions. Uh these are for next season. But the Blazers um they what a saga. What a weekend for Javvante Cook. Um he was the last guy in camp. You know, they waved everybody else. He was the 18th player. They had one open two-way spot left. So was like, okay, this dude who’s played three years in the G-League and has yet to make his NBA debut is going to get this opportunity. Then he gets waved on Friday. um a team source indicated to me that there was like Javanti Cook, you know, he’s getting waved, but he’s still under consideration for a two-way spot. And when I received that information on my phone, I said, “That seems false.” I said, “I I that seems like it might not be true. I can’t believe Jvante Cook’s getting waved.” Um well, I mean, I can believe it, but like what a bummer. And like what a funny thing to be like he might still come back and then he does come back. So, I’m happy for Javvante just because, you know, I’m rooting for anyone to get an opportunity and I can’t speak to like the vast val all the other valuable places that you could spend your two-way money. Plus, two-way contracts are just so fickle. They’re fully non-g guaranteed. If the Blazers do want to sign someone else to a two-way contract, they can wave anybody and do and and you know, and and you can wave Cook at any time and add a new person to a two-way contract. It is they’re very they’re very team forward deals. Um, I will say the Blazers other two-way guys. Seems like Caleb Love and Cidius Susoko are like at least if the Blazers aren’t healthier than they have been in the preseason, like if Matis Thyel is not available, seems like CD Sissoko might play like he might be the 10th guy in the rotation. So, um, they’re they’re getting they’re going to get some mileage out of these two-way guys. Uh, I mentioned that I think the Shaden Sharp contract, which has tremendous upside, and the Tumani Kamar deal, which is like I’m somewhat surprised that Tummani’s camp didn’t just say, “Hey, we want whatever the absolute maximum is.” Like credit to Joe Cronin for for truly negotiating and saying, “Hey, this is a number we’re not willing to go over. Like we we this is this is a price that we think is fair. This is $80 million for you a second round pick. Take the money, get paid, but like we don’t want we’re not just going to say, “Hey, whatever that big whatever, you know, the average salary comes in, whoever can sort of negotiate to and project and like whatever the sort of projection ends up landing at, we’ll give it to you.” No, like true negotiating. Um, and I I I don’t think Cronin has a long history of doing this. In fact, if there has been a like clear weakness in his game is negotiating with veteran free agents. Um, you know, like let’s just look back at his at his um at his moves. In 2022, he signed immediately signed Damen Lillard to a 2-year $113 million extension. One that of course he didn’t even end up paying playing a single minute on because he got injured and waved by the Bucks, right? Like um I don’t think you can say that that was like a ended up being a good contract. I it’s hard to argue that one. um he gave that same summer Afrey Simons four for hund00 million. I will say at the time I thought it was a decent bet on Anthony Simons to um mature into like a good starting player. He did not do that. He was not a highle starter at any point on that contract and he would ended up being not particularly valuable as a trade piece at that price tag. um you know kind of is it I guess I guess in some ways it kind of just is what it is but like I don’t think you can say that that was a positive value or like or like a good contract for for Simons. Uh that same summer Yousef Nerkach also got paid four years $70 million for Nerk. I don’t think you can make a case that that that ended up being a good contract, right? Like that that’s that ended up being um Nerk was like just a little overpaid for what his production was. Uh maybe it wasn’t crazy at the beginning of the deal, but I think the back half of that deal is just like, wow, that’s too much money for Ysef Nurkish. And that same summer, Gary Peyton, three years, $26 million. We don’t even need to get into that one. Clearly very bad. Um the following summer, 5 years, 160 million bucks for Jeremy Grant. That’s not a good contract. That same summer, three for 33 million for Matise Theline, but I don’t think you could make the argument that that’s a good deal. Like I don’t think it’s been a like a deep burden. But Matise doesn’t is not going to end up with like I would be surprised if Matis Thyel ends up with like real trade value other than just he’s an expiring contract. And if you’re willing to do someone a favor, you can get some extract some value there. But yeah, like even if that’s a neutral deal, I don’t think you can say it’s a good one. And then in 2025 this summer, he signed Dame to a threeyear $42 million contract. Um you know, we’ll see what Dame is like when he gets back. Perhaps he’s extremely good and he’s like well underpaid, but you’d be hardressed to say that paying Dame $14 million to do nothing is a particularly good deal. I I would say over his uh over his summers in 2024, they didn’t really sign any veterans, but like over his four summers, I don’t think Joe Cronin has done a good job with this. And then he comes in in the summer of 2025, the fall of 2025, and signs. This is his first opportunity to sign his draft picks. Shane Trump is his first draft pick. The the the 2022 draft is eligible this summer. And because Tummani is a second round pick um with this with this uh player option, they can rip up his deal, rip up the player option, which is what they did, and then and then negotiate the extension, right? Um so this is the first time he’s like had eligible players in this manner. And if you want to throw in I didn’t include rookie first round rookies because there’s no negotiating and second round rookies since none of them have signed a second contract with the Blazers, I think it’s hard to argue that like the sort of like the Trend and Watford, Jabari Walker deals were like good for the Blazers. I would say for the most part, Joe Cron, this has been a weakness of his game. He’s done some some good some very good trade work. Um, and like I guess maybe eyes of the beholder, but I think he’s been uh fine in overall in drafts. I I call the Blazers like an average draft team under Joe Cronin that I think they’ve done for their draft slot done well. Uh, and and have a chance to obviously um, depending on where those young guys go, have that drastically change, right? That you could say you could feel a lot better about it. But the contract stuff has been bad. They have not been good at it. These are killer deals. Like the Sharp deal is a might be a killer deal. That might be like one like there is a chance that Shaden Sharp is just playing on one of the best contracts in the league by the end of this. That’s a killer deal. And Tummani, while I think um you know, you’re paying a lot of money for a guy who’s mostly a defender, if he develops the way he looked like he is capable of in the second half of last season, like you’re talking a dude who’s going to compete for first team all all um all defense and shoot at very high level from three. This is a player that travels. And this is like um you know, even if it’s not like way under market for Tumani, it’s like a it’s getting really good players under contracts, getting really solid players who help you win under contracts and fit the plan. That’s money. These are two really good deals. These are two really good deals. Um Joe Cronin for the first time, you know, I mentioned heading into this uh negotiation stuff that we’d never seen Cronin do this how he would handle restricted free agents. Um I would say he handled it very well. I would say he did a very good job. Um, so yeah, I mean maybe times change and Cronin just kind of figured out kind of the the cycle of of like how the market works and didn’t like um and just like has a much better handle on it now that he’s just been doing it for a long time. Um, you know, may maybe I don’t know maybe maybe this is maturity, maybe this is luck, whatever it is, but I think undeniably he’s this hasn’t been a strength of his. And then today, Sunday, October 19th, it got strong. This was this was money. Um, okay. Okay, so where the Blazers stand after these extensions? Heading into next summer, the Blazers will have about $36 million in wiggle room below the tax line. That’s including Chris Murray’s contract, but not another draft pick. If you say the Blazers draft somewhere in like the 10 to 17 range next year, you’re talking like 32 30 to 32 million below the tax line. They’ll have the full non- taxpayer mid-level exception. They will they’ll be able to make some trades and take on some money if they need to. Um, they have players under contract and Tummani and Sharp who are who are good and are going to be part of the plan moving forward. They have plenty of they’re not going to have cap space, but they’re going to have room to maneuver as need be with that mid-level exception and the ability to make trades and take on money because they’re not an apron team. um like ability to maneuver on the in the trade market and um you know obviously have to fill out the roster because that that’s only 10 players and 11 if you include the draft pick. Let’s call it 11 you know you know four roster spots and 30 million bucks. Um they’ve really they have a they have a a window here to build a pretty competitive team. Um, and uh, obviously you have to execute that, but I would say these deals and what they got to money and shaden sharp on, you have clarity about where you’re you’re at financially and you have space to make moves. This is a chance um, obviously you got to thread a perfect needle, but steps these early steps have put themselves in a position to have opportunity and that’s kind of the name of the game. Allow when you’re not um, good yet, maintain your flexibility so you can get good. Um, and these deals maintain their flexibility so they can get good. Uh, that they they’ve got they have a window in the summer of 2026. And now the season is going to happen and they have we’ll see how good they are. And I think that will really um inform a lot of our perception of of like what their opportunity might be in the summer of 2026. Um, that that’s it for today’s show. Um, tomorrow’s show we’re talking about practice. I’ve got a great uh episode for you um talking about this sort of uh decline of practice time in the NBA. Some some reporting I’ve done over a couple um a week or 10 days uh that I think you’re really going to enjoy. And then the season will be here and uh Ben Beacum from uh Locked on Wolves is going to join the program and we’re going to preview game one and then the Blazers on Wednesday are going to play their first game of the season. It’s here and Thursday’s show. We will recap everything that happened in the first game of the season. How stinking fun is this? It’s here, y’all. It’s here. Shaden and Tumani got paid. The team is locked up. They’ve secured their future and they’re going to play basketball this week. Tell your friends about the podcast. Tell them they can find it wherever they get podcasts and also on YouTube. I appreciate you listening. I’ll talk to you soon.

Shaedon Sharpe and Toumani Camara each agreed to four-year contract extensions that look like great deals for the Portland Trail Blazers

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