Draymond Green and Baron react to Desmond Bane's trade to the Magic for Kevin Porter Jr., four unprotected first-round picks, and more. They break down how the deal clears Memphis's salary cap while keeping young talent like Ja Morant, then push back against the stereotype that Memphis is dangerous for players.
Chapters
Draymond Green gets traded to the Orlando Magic for KCP, Cole Anthony, 4 unprotected first-round picks, and a pick swap. What do you think about the Magic move, and how does Bain fit with the current Magic team? Okay, potential lineup: Suggs, Bain, Paulo, Franz, Wagner. And Carter Jr.
Oh, um.
That's, did somebody get fleeced?
4 unprotected first round picks in a pick swap. That's a lot.
That's wild. That's wild.
So when I saw the trade, I was like, man.
No way.
That's a lot. And I like Bain.
Yeah.
That's a lot. And then I saw what, Orlando's general manager said, I saw a quote he made, and it made complete sense to me why they would make that deal.
Yeah.
He said something along the lines of, if you went into a lab and created a basketball player, you go into the lab and create Desmond Bane. And I said, oh, okay. That's why he gave up so much. All right, cool. Well, the reality is, I think Desmond Bane's done great. I think he's a very good player. But if I go in the lab and create a basketball player, I'm gonna create Kevin Durant or LeBron James or like a 6'6" dude with Steph Curry's jump shot. Desmond Bane is 6'5" with a 6'4" wingspan or 6'2" wingspan or something of that nature. I'm not going in the lab and creating Desmond Bane. No dis— with all due respect to Desmond Bane, I'm not going to create a basketball player with short arms.
It's true.
So when he said that, those are the things that went in my mind like, wait, He got short arms. You gonna go create a basketball player with short arms? I don't quite understand that. And so I was a bit surprised by the statement, but I understood what he was trying to get at. Like, Bane played both sides of the ball, but like, you gotta find a better way to articulate that. You can't like be like, you going to laugh.
Yeah, that makes sense.
When you go create a player on, when you go create a player on 2K, You ain't creating Desmond Bane size. You creating like 6'9", 6'10" with a handle and shoot. You not creating Desmond Bane. But it made complete sense to me on why they made that move. And I'll take it a step further. I don't know this to be factual. This is just my guess. My guess is, They've been looking for a point guard. My guess is they called on Ja and Memphis somehow formed it and curved the ball back around and it was Desmond Bane in the trade. 4 first round picks and an unprotected pick swap is insane. So. Yeah. It's obviously a move that says they believe in Paulo, they believe in Franz Wagner, and we're gonna put someone around them, some shooting that can add, you know what I'm saying? That can take some pressure off of them.
Bane is nice though.
Bane nice. And he more than just a shooter. Like he can get to a bucket, you know? And so—
Yeah, he a bucket.
What the move signals to me is that they believe in those guys and they want to try to go for it with those guys. And also what that move says to me is, which I agree with, they think the league is wide open and right now is to take your shot. I just don't know if that's the shot I would've taken with 4 first-round picks unprotected and a pick swap. I'm not sure that's the shot I would've taken. Just, it seems like a lot, but I do understand where they at. I understand what they're, what they're doing, what they're thinking is. And I respect anybody who's willing to go for it.
All right, where does the Bane trade leave the Memphis Grizzlies?
I think it leaves Memphis sorta in the same position that they were in. Not that Desmond Bane is just easily replaceable, but they still got Jaren, they still got Ja, they got a young Zach Eaddy, they got a young Jalen Wells, they got a young Gigi Jackson, they got a young Scottie Pippen. So I think it leaves them like, again, I always say this, I don't think, and I try to tell people this, all organizations ain't trying to win championships. Here they are, that's essentially a shred salary cap move for Memphis. Take all the picks back, shred some salary cap, see what we can do with these young guys. But if we can't really, and it don't matter, we got all these picks to, for the future, right? That's a salary cap move. So where does it leave them? I think it should be clear as day to Ja. You gotta understand how this business work. Clear as day is that, is that organization really trying to win a championship? When I see the move, I say, no, you're worried about other things and you're pulling away. But y'all just pulling back the taxes. Y'all pulling back. Y'all don't wanna get the tax. So— Yeah. You let, you know, but this has been a thing with them. This has been a thing with Memphis. They've been doing it over and over again. They had a team where it seemed like they had a chance. They let De'Anthony Melton, they send De'Anthony Melton away to Philly. They let Kyle Anderson walk, right? Now you fast forward, it's Bain. So this is a thing for them. I think they're a team that don't want to get to the tax and they make moves based on that. That's where I think this leaves Memphis, Chris.
All right, you know, there's been also, I would say, a lot of sayings or a lot of chatter about Memphis players being reluctant to play in Memphis because it's a dangerous place to live. Do you think that also adds to it? I think Memphis is a great place. I think that we should be one, trying to uplift and highlight like all the positive things. And so when you hear statements like that from people, like they don't necessarily be tapped in.
Mm-hmm.
Right? And I don't like statements like that because it undermines, you know, the goodness, the positivity, the true essence of, you know, a city that needs to be uplifted. You watching First 48 and shit like that and then you making assessments off that, That's television, that's entertainment, right? We talking about people who blood, sweat, and tears, you know, come and support, you know, the Grizzlies, right?
Yep.
Talking about people who, you know, support kids and Memphis basketball on all levels, the work, you know, Penny doing. So you can't, you can't, it's just buster comments to me, you know?
I got a lot of love for the city of Memphis. I got people from Memphis too. People from Memphis has always shown me love. Even they staff, when we in they building, they show love. Everybody in Memphis has always shown love. So, and I was about to go to Memphis 2 years ago. So I wholeheartedly disagree because the last thing that was on my mind was, this is a dangerous place to live, I can't go. Every city in the world has a dangerous part. Every city in the world has a dangerous part to it. So, I'm not gonna sit here and single out that city and be like, yo, a player can't go to that city because it's too dangerous. Come on, man.
That's a wild statement.
There's a dangerous part of Los Angeles. There's a dangerous part of Detroit. There's a dangerous part of Miami. There's a dangerous part of New York. Miami and New York? There's a dangerous part of Dallas. There's a dangerous part of Houston. There's a dangerous part of Indianapolis. There's a dangerous part of Charlotte.
Philly.
You name it. There's a dangerous part of every city. So to single out that city, that franchise, and try to make it like nobody wanna go there 'cause that place is dangerous. Don't do that to that city. I disagree with that wholeheartedly. Like I said, I was about to go there 2 years ago. And the last thing that was on my mind was, "I'm not gonna go play with that team 'cause that's dangerous." This is who?
This is who?
We're here to play basketball, raise our families.
Come on, man. And be great pillars in the community, man.
How can I help that community?
Buzz off.
Stop it, man.
That's what I mean. We should have called that one Buzz Off or something like that.
