Chapter 1: What is the expansion draft and why is it significant?
Welcome to the morning shoot around here on the Athletic NBA Daily's YouTube stream. You can hang out with us every Wednesday here in the Pacific time zone. It's still the morning here in the Central or East Coast. You know what? Enjoy your lunch with us. All right. That's right. It's not that hard. I'm still looking for a cold brew sponsorship.
I mean, that would be... Just throwing that out there. That'd be amazing to get a cold brew sponsorship. Let us know out there, cold brew people. I won't say a brand, but listen, we'll say one. I will say one. That's right. Yeah. We'll say it. No awkward hop, Mike. Shout out to Lawrencefield. Thank you. Lawrencefield knows what's up. Yeah. So...
today we are finally going to do the expansion draft that we have long been awaiting. So we've waited several weeks. And now, you know what? We were just waiting for the news. That's right. Of the official expansion. Perfect timing. Yeah. So anything that we want to use to set the table first before we get started with drafting the new Seattle Supersonics and the Las Vegas Strips?
yeah i actually i want to start with just strategy all right i want to just think about like when this happens because it does feel like it's going to happen they're going to vote next week It feels like 2028 is the target. What would your strategy be if you guys were the GM? Let's say, Andrew, you're in Seattle. Actually, Andrew, you're in Vegas. You do the little road trip from OKC.
S, you're in Seattle. It's close enough to the border. Let's go get your poutine, Tim Hortons, all that. Poutine's overrated. So you think about this. Hey, you're a brand new team, right? Yeah. You have the draft from the pool of players, and you're not getting a star out of this draft, the expansion draft. You do get to draft in the lottery in the first year.
Is there an incentive to just come in and tank right away until you get a franchise superstar? Or do you want to come out and say, hey, look, we're trying to make the playoffs year one? One, I don't think it's possible to do the second thing you're talking about, Dave. It'd be very difficult. I think in the NBA, it's really hard.
You can make the play-in because most teams don't want to be in the play-in, right? Let's say you could compete for the 10 seed just based on the expansion draft. I think you have to tank. I think you have to come in. I think that they both have to. You're just tank-brained, man. I think you have to. If you ever want to be good... The talent pool is too shallow.
You're not going to get really good players. There's nobody that is going to deliver for you night in, night out. That's in this draft. There's just not. The guys that are the most talented guys are on one of the worst teams in the league. You know? then they leave them unprotected because they're like, please save us from these giant salaries. That's the position that these teams are in.
And so, yeah, I don't think that there's a lot there. I mean, maybe a guy that isn't playing a ton, that's a young guy, just pops. Gerald Wallace was a guy that was on the Sacramento Kings. He was buried on the bench for the Kings. The Bobcats took him in the expansion draft, and he became an all-star. It didn't happen overnight, though. And the Bobcats won a championship in 2000.
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Chapter 2: What strategies are considered for building an expansion team?
Yeah, yes. There could be a Thunder player that gets selected, like if J. Will is selected in this draft, which is possible. Then it's like, I don't know that he's an all-star level player, but could he start for the Las Vegas Strips? Yes. Are we going to see the thunder bump the way that we used to see the Spurs bump?
Remember like Gary Neal got that big contract and then it was just turned back into a pumpkin? That's funny. We'll see you this summer. I don't know, man. Usman Jang, ballin'. You know, shout out to Us. Shout out, Us. Okay, you guys want to do this draft? I want to, you know, just kind of moderate and...
Really, like, pick on you guys as you're ā I'm going to try to straddle the line of we're going for a playoff spot this year, and we're going to try and get some picks for your bad players. There we go.
I think that that's ā see, this is why I wanted to set the table this way because, like, I want to judge the draft based on what your goals are, not on who got the better players because I think that that's ā There's going to be two different ways to go. Like, S, like, I assume you're looking, like, DeMar DeRozan is probably high up on your list, right?
If the Kings want to give me a pick in order to take him, I'm glad to do that. No problem. You know, like, that's where, I think that's where my head is at. It's like, I can be competitive while also preparing for the future, you know? So I can, I don't know, like, for example, Toronto with the Yaka Pirtle situation, solid, decent starting center there.
OK, Toronto, give me a first round pick in order to take that guy off your plate. That's like the way that I would try to approach it if I was an expansion team, you know, and I think that's correct me if I'm wrong. That's within the guidelines. We're allowed to do that in an expansion draft. Right.
An expansion team can say, hey, we will take this contract from you, but you have to give us a pick in order to do that. Right? That make sense? Yeah. I mean, it seems like, Andrew, you were saying that teams can negotiate on this within each other? Yeah, you can negotiate. I mean, teams can ask them to take other players. You can give picks for other players.
I think you can give picks in Lua players. Yeah, those things are possible, and they're on the table for this. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe I'll be the other 30 GMs for you guys, and we can see how this works. I will tell you, I'm kind of a harsh negotiator, and I'm a love-the-one-you're-with kind of guy. So, like, DeMar can come play for the Kings. I'm not trying to win next year anyway. Yeah.
Yeah, that's fair. So, yeah. Yeah. Good luck, guys. Do you want to be a second apron team, Sacramento? No, definitely not. So, let me take him off. We need those draft picks. We're bad, so... Yeah. Let's do this. Okay. Okay. S, your Seattle will give you the number one pick.
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Chapter 3: How do players' contracts impact expansion draft decisions?
Thank you so much. That's the frozen envelope.
okay uh i feel like let me let me sort out okc here let me see who they have on the table that's basically i love that that's a great way to do it you know uh obviously okc has lou dort isaiah joe aaron wiggins that they didn't protect uh some really good names here truthfully let's go to san antonio real quick only julian champagny not really a lot i can work with here yeah
uh detroit nothing boston nothing really maybe indiana no not really okay all right uh i'm gonna i'm gonna go back here and go to all teams and see what we can do so i'm gonna go ahead and i'm gonna start my franchise the first pick in the draft And I feel like I'm missing out here. There's probably someone I'm missing out desperately on.
I don't want to be stupid before I take this pick, so I'm going to take one last look at our team here and the options that we have. I really love the idea of 37-year-old Klay Thompson bombing away for the Seattle Supersonics. That's so sad. That feels so sad. That would be my starting four. That would be awesome. I would just be ā my team would be ā You would draft off vibes.
It would be vibes. Of course you would. Who do guys want to see? You want to come watch the Seattle Supersonics and remember some guys? I got you. Yeah, you know what, man? I'm taking DeMar DeRozan. I love it. Why not? I love it. I love it. I'll take DeMar. I think I can trade him later down the road. Also, though, he's got all these career scoring milestones coming up. Yeah.
The Kings are just celebrating right now. The Kings are really happy, and I think the Sonics are super happy, too. We got DeMar DeRozan, one of the greatest scorers of his generation, you know, on the roster. Leadership, day one. Yeah, leadership. Again. And also some star power. I think people would be relatively interested in going to watch DeMar. Let's do it. Locking it in.
By the way, to the point of OKC, I felt weird starting my franchise with Aaron Wiggins. I don't know. It just felt weird to be like, yeah, my first pick is Aaron Wiggins. The first pick in Seattle Supersonic's new history. Wow. This is off to a shocking start for us here in Vegas. I love this so much. We are ecstatic. We are jumping around in our war room right now, high-fiving.
We are just bewildered and excited. We're going to take Nikola Topic, number one. Wow. Bold. I feel like that's kind of crazy, man. That's bold. Listen. Listen for just a second. Here's the thought. One, we want to be bad. We understand. We're in the Western Conference. You think we're going to compete for something in the Western Conference? No. You know what you need, though? Hope.
You have to sell hope, okay? You know what rhymes with hope? Nikola Tope. Nikola Tope. That's right. That's right. And listen, Topich was a guy that he's obviously had a lot of bad luck with the knee injury, then he had testicular cancer, and it's been a long road for him. Yeah. But of anybody that's on this list, I mean, he was a lottery pick, right? He was a guy that can be like a true creator.
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Chapter 4: What are the challenges of drafting young players in the NBA?
Because listen, I'm going to be preaching patience to the people of Las Vegas, which is not, it's not a Vegas thing, but we're going to make it a Vegas thing because we're going to preach patience to
to the Las Vegas audience and Nikola Topic will be the beginning of that also he's just kind of a like a fun funny looking dude you know what and you need those kind of guys for your rebuild okay you need characters you need a funny looking guy you need characters within your rebuild and he is a character okay and so I feel we're ecstatic our war room is just going crazy Going crazy for it.
I like it. I love it. I like it. It's a good pick. I mean, hey, you need a point guard, especially if you want to be bad. You need a young one. That's right. Yeah, that's right. Man, I have a lot of options and ways that I could attack the rest of this draft and just be fun. I think I'm going to go ahead and take Ty Jerome here. Ty Jerome. Yes. Again, we're building a decent team.
I think Ty Jerome with extra opportunity can score the ball flat out. Get some opportunity here to really stretch his wings. Seattle Supersonics guard. Also, funny-looking player. You know, if we're going off that vibe. So I now have a starting backcourt, if you will, of Ty Jerome and DeMar DeRozan. I mean, those are NBA starters. They are. They are officially starters.
I'm really curious where... Oh my god, I know what the Los Angeles Crips are going to do. Can you make a team that's better than the Warriors without Steph? Right? Oh, you could trick yourself. You could trick yourself into it. Absolutely. Just like S is about to do. You can trick yourself into it. Sure.
I haven't even started calling the general manager here for the pick situation that I'm cooking up in a little bit, but we'll talk. Okay. All right. My second pick, and this is, again, we're high-fiving. We're getting not only a recent pick, but we're getting another character that sells hope. Oh, my God. We're drafting Yang Hansen. I knew it, man. Okay. We are going all feel.
We are going all potential. And listen, we just wrapped the Chinese market into Vegas. Vegas. And we're going to start these two. And there's going to be stuff happening. Yes, there is. We don't know what that's going to be. They are going to be doing some stuff. But there's going to be some stuff happening. And we're going to be like, listen, we're going to give you...
Just whatever you want to just try. Just try stuff, okay? Topich and Yonghan Sen, figure out who you are. This team is going to win five games. No, listen, I'm going to, as Klay Thompson's agent, too, I'm going to be selling. You got to get Klay out there with these guys. Oh, man. I mean, listen, if your goal is to lose games, those two, I believe, would do it.
We're going to lose games, but listen, again, selling hope, selling characters. You know there is a salary floor. I just want to throw that out there. You know what? We're not concerned. We're not concerned. Not a problem. Okay, look, continuing on this path, I'm going to just call the general manager here and say if they would be willing to give me a future first-round pick.
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Chapter 5: How does team chemistry affect expansion team success?
That's not a problem. So I'm going to go ahead and take Rashear Fleming of the Phoenix Suns. Oh. He's been awesome. He is part of my developmental program. And by the way, I accidentally put Andrew Wiggins on there. I don't know if you can take him out, Andrew. Sorry about that. That's my mistake.
But yes, I'm going to go ahead and add Rashear Fleming because I think he's been awesome for Phoenix. Awesome wing defender. Crazy long if you've had a chance to watch him recently. I'm very intrigued by how he looks defensively. And we'll need that if we're trying to have a group of DeMar DeRozan, Ty Jerome. Bit of a pivot from... It's trying to dip in.
Oh, you're trying to ask two timelines here. Not necessarily two timelines, but this is a guy who I think... Look, this is a guy who I think can help now and is actually helping the Phoenix Suns right now too. I'm prioritizing picking a guy who is young but also has upside and can play right now. I believe in Rashear Fleming. Big fan. Go with it. I like that pick. That's my choice.
I like the Rashear Fleming pick. I think that's a good one. Thank you. That's the first one that... That makes sense in the Strips organization? Yeah, the Strips, we were a little bit... Oh, man. We're a little bit bummed about that one. Okay. Shouldn't have posted that whiteboard. That's right. That's right. Someone took a picture. No, stop. Okay.
So we do need a high-salary player at some point, right? Yeah. Yeah. But I don't like any of these guys, so I won't do it now. Okay. I would consider Tricky Trey, Trey Mann. I think that he's a really fun player that will help us lose games. Cody Williams also, who's balling out on a big, fat loser in Utah right now. He's at least still interesting, and he has a very good, famous brother.
It's like Oklahoma City. Yeah, so. Jordan Walsh is also interesting to me just as like a tough nosed player just to have on your team Furphy is interesting I just want to make sure Mo Diawara I don't know if Mo Diawara should actually be on this yeah I don't know we had to decide between him and Alvarado for the people yeah that was the debate there Diawara is very interesting to me Okay.
But he's kind of a wild card. I don't know. Okay, so I will... Wait, I'm sorry. You could be the Las Vegas wild cards, to be honest with you. Oh, that's true. With the first two draft picks that you've got. I actually like that. That's a good point. Topich, Hansen, come on. I mean, Diawara, I mean...
we're all i i don't know it seems like you're rolling the dice yeah we're doing really good so nice hi you guys know how insufferable oh broadcasts are gonna be if we get a vegas team oh it's gonna be crazy i'll take i'll take jordan walsh third for my team that's a nice pick hey and you know this joe missoula uh to talk about him just for a second um the development that
Jordan Walsh has had this year. I don't know. I don't know if he gets that. Number one, he doesn't get it if Tatum is not injured. And number two, I don't know if he gets the opportunity on a different team. They really carved a niche that was specifically for him to grow in. Impressive. Also a character.
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Chapter 6: What role does player character play in team selection?
By the way. Yeah. Oh yeah. He's got a character. Yeah, that's for sure. Um, okay. Calling again to the general manager's office. Yeah. You know, Yakup hurdle. I'm willing to do it if you give me two first round picks, future first round picks. This is crazy. Again, his contracts is atrocious. Yeah, you know, but we like what he brings to the table.
Now that he's healthy and he had this big game the other day, you know, and we're trying to compete. Oh, yeah, just one game. Just one. Hey, that's all I need to see for some hope. And, you know, we're still trying to compete, but we're not good enough to be trading future firsts.
you know i'll tell you i would be willing to attach seconds uh for you to do that let's say let's say seconds the next two years you know that's fine with us if you if you give me a first i'll do it but no no no way i'm doing it for seconds no i just don't think just don't think we can do that okay you know what i'll tell you how about how about how about a first round swap Absolutely not.
I have the intentions of to not necessarily. We're going to compete, but not compete too much. Okay. I tried. I tried. I thought. S, what would you do as the Raptors, though, in that spot? What's your thought process there? I don't think I would do it either if it was two firsts. I mean, that's probably what it was here at the deadline, and they said no.
And to Dave's point, to be fair to him, he is playing better, and he's actually healthy now. So I don't know how long that's for, and we'll see. It's at least promising that he's been able to string together like four weeks of healthy, good basketball. Is he the best center that's unprotected? I guess Valanchunas is up there, but not really. Yeah, he is. I mean, he's like the most talented one.
He's definitely the best center there. He's like the best guy that, if he's healthy, is a starting center. Because like is... I mean, I guess the other, like, Brooke Lopez is here. I'll tell you, if I was doing an expansion draft, if I was drafted, I'm trying to be decent. Man, B-Ball Paul might be high up on my list. Yeah, B-Ball Paul. B-Ball Paul's not bad.
I mean, doesn't he feel like an expansion center? Well, I have two expansion centers here ready to roll, actually. So I have some backup plans here for myself. I'm going to go ahead and take Yves Misi of the New Orleans Pelicans. Yeah, I thought about it. Screen assist guy. Screen assist guy. Him and Damar will work well together. Very athletic center.
Also young, so dips into our young bag a little bit. We can also pivot here, folks. We can decide we're not too invested into this winning team and tank. So I'm going to take, yeah, Yves as one of my picks here. That's one of the cheat codes to tanking is, like, if you just have...
bad defense centers yep exactly and also like damar's contract right now especially for my team it's not like it's it's killing me you know i need to again i need to get onto the cap floor to your point and he's gonna score points for me so yeah i'll take it yeah yeah that's true um uh i'm considering johnny furphy here okay i think it's just kind of a fun player
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Chapter 7: How do expansion teams navigate salary cap constraints?
And so, like, if he ends up, you know, blown up... Also, A.J. Mitchell could be an unrestricted free agent that summer. And so, like, if the Thunder aren't able to get deals done with either one of those guys... Um, you know, they could be, I mean, the Las Vegas strips could be like, Hey, we'll give AJ Mitchell four years at 30 mil a pop, you know, where the Thunder couldn't match it. Um, yeah.
And they don't get the full salary cap the first two seasons. Um, you know, and again, shout out to Mike working off, uh, over at the athletic who kind of has laid out all of this stuff. Um, cause I didn't know this top of head. I had, you know, I had to read about it like everybody else. Andrew, we got a question. Everyone needs a smile.
Says, would you trade, would OKC trade a pick to keep Topich? Maybe. I mean, Topich is very much loved and appreciated by the front office, I would say, in OKC. And he's a player that they have clearly wanted a player like this on the team. They drafted Josh Giddey. They asked Josh to come off the bench. When he decided that he wouldn't, they traded him.
And then they immediately drafted Nikola Topic that same summer. And so this archetype of player is clearly something that the front office values. And so they want to try this. They're desperate to try it, even though they don't really have any other guys like him or like Giddy on the roster. They want to try it. And so... That is certainly possible.
If it were me making the decision, I would keep the picks and allow... If a team is willing to take a guy who's not part of the rotation from the Thunder, I would say okay. Got to live with it. But I also don't have... I've watched very limited time with Topich, and I just don't know exactly how he fits just with the defensive concerns and some of the outside shooting concerns. And so...
You can find people that love Topich. You can find people that question what he'll be. So, I don't know. I kind of probably lean more to kind of questioning how he fits with OKC than anything. Yeah, that's fair. So... I've stalled enough here, guys. Yeah, you've got to make a pick. I've got to make a pick. You know who I like? You do need shooting just to function as a team.
So I'm going to take Corey Kispert as my first high-salaried player. I don't think he helps us win very many games, but he at least gives us some structure. Yeah, he does help you shoot. That's true. That is absolutely true. Good movement shooter, guy that can come in and just make shots. I'll take Corey Kispert. I like it a lot. I like it a lot.
Speaking of shooting, I'm going to take a cheaper option on the shooting front. I'm going to take Julian Champagny of the San Antonio Spurs. Great pick. Yeah, I like Champagny. He's been helping them win. And I think ultimately that's like something he can do for us over at the Seattle Supersonics as well. And I'm not saying this is my starting five. I don't think so.
I think I'm probably going to get some more. It's not bad, though. It's a good start. Yeah. I mean, I actually even like when Champagny has been playing the four when Harrison Barnes was out. Sure. I thought that that made the Spurs a little bit more dangerous, which is funny because him and Barnes, they're not too dissimilar, especially the way that they play on offense. But just...
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Chapter 8: What are the long-term goals for the new expansion teams?
I told these guys I started a Fallout New Vegas replay recently. Nice. As my wind down game. Yeah. I don't know if I'm going to go the Yes Man route. You guys ever played Fallout New Vegas? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if I'm going to go the Yes Man route on this one. Have you watched the movie, Jim Carrey movie, Yes Man? Oh, yeah. Very funny. Yeah. It's a good movie. Yeah. It is good.
I'm trying to see who all is left. Who is available? Who is all available? I mean, if I could just highlight a few names, stand out to me. How about De'Ron Sharp? You know? Yeah. I thought about it. Good young player. Yeah, he can play. Again, Paul Reed. But Paul Reed, I think, for your purposes, Andrew, probably too good. Come on, Matt. To that point. What about Cam Whitmore? You know?
You know what? I don't want any of that. Okay. Okay. I mean, I just... I want to lose, but I want to... How bad do you want to be? I want to lose, but I want to have some semblance of an offense, right? Okay, sure. It's like, let's actually... Let's put an offense in place. This is why I'm taking guys like Kispert and Ben Shepard that can just... You will someday be a good player.
Not them, but somebody in your place will be good that will play like you. I agree. I like Noah Penda a lot. I like him too. Tell me what you like about Noah Penda because I've seen him play twice in the last several weeks and I just don't get it. So help me. He's huge. He's huge and massive. And I do believe he's going to be a shooter. Okay. The volume is not there in the NBA at all. No. But...
I think he can play he's big he's got crazy he's really good athlete but he looks bigger than than he's listed yeah when you see him next to Paolo like he looks like he's about the same size yeah I've seen him up close I just like I he was he just hasn't had an opportunity I mean there's a log jam I know in Orlando at his position he just was lost Well, yeah. I mean, it's tough, right?
Number one, you don't know how to play yet, right? You're a baby in the NBA and you're playing the Thunder. I'm actually really starting to like my team. I'm admiring my team. Is there a minimum number of players expansion teams must draft? This is from M. Wesley in the chat. You know, that's a good question. It is a good question. It's a good question.
I will try to find the answer while we're here because I haven't seen that anywhere. I assume that there's got to be at least like... I don't know that... Did they do 12 rounds? Yeah, I don't know if there is or not because I know you can walk away with just draft picks instead of a slot. But teams can't lose more than one player as of right now. That may change.
But as of right now, teams can't lose more than one player and you can only protect eight. So, I mean, realistically, I don't know that they would do 12 rounds, but at least 10. Let me, you know, let me find out. I'll look at what the last one was. Okay. I will take Cody Williams just as a wing. I don't know if he's any good. Cool.
But just like another like swing on a former lottery pick that has a famous brother. I like it. I like it a lot. Okay. Hmm. Pick seven for the Sonics, the Supersonics. Also, we have to consider who would look cool in a Seattle Supersonic jersey. I have been thinking about that, honestly, truthfully. I can't lie to you. Green and yellow, I'm thinking about who would look cool in green and yellow.
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