NBA teams must balance player retention with financial flexibility, as demonstrated by the Cleveland Cavaliers' approach to Donovan Mitchell's contract extension and James Harden's player option, where strategic contract negotiations and salary cap management (including avoiding the second apron) are essential for long-term roster building and championship competitiveness.
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REACTION: Donovan Mitchell in Cleveland LONG TERM?! | Are the Cavs Going to Run it Back!?Hinzugefügt:
On today's show, Cavs president of basketball operations Kobe Alman gave his end of season address on Friday afternoon. And everything he says as always requires some reading between the lines. We'll do just that on this edition of Locked on Cavs.
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Hi again everybody. My name is Danny Cunningham and I cover the Cleveland Cavaliers over my Substack the Inside Shot and you're listening to the latest edition of Locked on Cavs where on today's show we're going to take a look at what Kobe Alman had to say at his end of season availability to finally put a bow on the 2025 2026 Cleveland Cavaliers season that ended earlier this week when the Cavs were swept out of the Eastern Conference Finals by the New York Knicks. Kobe Alman touched on a number of different and very important topics over the course of around 32 minutes that he spoke on Friday morning at Cleveland Clinic Courts, the team's practice facility in Independence, Ohio.
He talked about a number of different important things. We're not going to be able to get to every single thing that he said in this edition of Locked on Cabs. probably talk about some of this stuff next week as well. But I want to begin with some of the more important things that I thought Kobe Alman said because anytime in executive speaks and this is not something that is unique to Kobe Alman, this is really all across sports when you have somebody in this position of power. It's often that you need to read between the lines to get to what they're really trying to say because it's not as if these guys or these women aren't telling the truth whenever they're in these situations, but it's often you need to dig a little bit deeper into their comments to try and get a real grasp on the message that they're trying to get across. And I want to begin by talking about Donovan Mitchell because there's been a lot of conversation about Mitchell this off seasonason. Obviously, he is due for a contract extension or I should say is eligible for a contract extension. He is under a fully guaranteed contract for next year and has a player option for the year following. And Kobe Alman was asked about that a couple of times. He was asked about Donovan's future with the Cavs and Donovan, of course, has talked about his future on his own by his own self. um most recently after the Cavs were eliminated in game four on Monday night where he talked about how much he loved Cleveland and Kobe was asked about Donovan and where he's at and where the organization stands as far as maybe offering him a contract extension considering that he is going to be 30 next season which when you are a guard Donovan Mitchell size your best days tend to be prior to that 30th birthday. I don't think that he's going to fall off some cliff, but I think he's at the peak of his powers right now. And Kobe was asked about that and I want to read some of his comments and then we'll get into what I think that actually says. So, he says, quote, "He's still playing the best basketball of his career." And look, Donovan is our guy.
He loves it here. I think he's professed how much he loves it here emphatically.
continued on. When he professes his love for being here, we're fortunate to have him and we'll work out those details in terms of a contract extension when it comes time. Continues, all I can tell you is Donovan has been steadfast in how much he loves it here. Are you picking up on a trend? That is the third time that Kobe has mentioned that Donovan Mitchell loves Cleveland, which Donovan has said time and time again to his credit. He has made no secret about how he feels about the city of Cleveland.
Kobe continued, "So there hasn't been any question of will he be here and does he want to be here?" I think that's the biggest thing, right? That's the best thing, right? When we have a superstar of his caliber that wants to be in Cleveland, that's our best ambassador, that's our best recruiter, there's guys that are here that wouldn't be here without him, quite frankly. So, I think the bigger question is one that's been answered is does he want to be here and does he want to be here long term? And I think he's answered that.
Donovan Mitchell has time and time again to his credit said how much he loves Cleveland and he wants to be in Cleveland. I've heard publicly from Donovan Mitchell been in the room when he has said these things. I have heard privately from other people that Donovan Mitchell loves it in Cleveland, wants to be in Cleveland and wants to win in Cleveland. I do not think Kobe Alman is telling any sort of lie here. So what does this actually say? Like what is Kobe Alman actually saying when he says these words? The Cavs are committed to Donovan Mitchell. That's what I think this stuff is. The Cavs believe in a future that involves Donovan Mitchell. And I do not foresee this off season being one in which D or I I should say I do not foresee the start of next season not having Donovan Mitchell on the Cavs. I just do not see a world where that's the case. And it's really hard for me to envision Donovan Mitchell not being on the Cavs for several more years to come.
This is a group, this is a franchise, this is a basketball operations department headed by Kobe Alman that firmly believes in Donovan Mitchell, that they think Donovan Mitchell, and we will get to this a little bit later on.
They think Donovan Mitchell can be the best player in a championship caliber team. Not saying you have to agree with that. I'm not even saying that I necessarily agree with that. I think he's really close. I think we need to see it and I feel that way about the same about everybody. Like I need to see Jaylen Brunson potentially win the finals before I believe he can be the best player in a championship caliber team. That to me is a thing that I need to see to believe. Doesn't mean Donovan's not great. I think he's a top 10 player in basketball. And I have felt that way since the day he arrived in Cleveland. I think he's been nothing but that. That next step is one that he needs to take. And I think Kobe Alman's comments kind of lead us to believe they firmly believe Donovan Mitchell can take that step because I don't know if it's so much about is Donovan Mitchell a guy capable right now of being the best player in a championship team. It's can Donovan Mitchell be a guy that's the best player in a championship caliber team? And the Cavs believe that answer to be yes. Again, whether or not you agree with that, don't agree with that, that that's up to you. But I do think that the Cavs believe that he can be that type of guy. And I think the comments that Donovan made and I think the comments that Kobe made on Friday kind of leave the door open to Donovan being a cab for the rest of his career.
Um because when they traded for him, there was obviously this belief that Donovan was going to be a rental in Cleveland. And you heard national media people say there's no way Donovan Mitchell signs an extension in Cleveland. And then you know 18 months or 24 months, whatever it was later, Donovan Mitchell signs an extension in Cleveland. And here we are two years after that most recent extension he signed in Cleveland. And is Donovan gonna sign an extension this summer? I'm not sure. But I don't think the relationship between Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers is anywhere near its end as of right now. I think that's what Kobe Alman was saying. I think Donovan Mitchell has said similar.
We could do the same exercise with Donovan Mitchell's postseason comments about how he loves Cleveland. Like if we really wanted to read between the lines on those comments, we could do that, too. I don't think that this relationship is going to end anytime soon. I think Donovan Mitchell is going to be on the Cavs this upcoming season.
I think Donovan Mitchell is going to be on the Cavs for a very long time. With that said, I'm not 100% sure that the extension the Cavs are going to offer Donovan Mitchell because I would expect them to offer him an extension. And he is eligible to sign an extension on July 7th, which is two years to the day following his most recent extension.
That is the first day he's eligible to sign an extension in Cleveland.
I'm not positive that extension is going to be for the full mats. That is kind of the thing that that I come away wondering. Maybe this is a little bit less reading between the lines of what Kobe Alman had to say and a little bit more of speculation on my part on my part, but I wonder if the Cavs are going to offer Donovan the full Max this summer. And I do wonder if Donovan wants to sign an extension this summer because it could potentially be in his best financial interest to kick that can down the road. And that is a potentially nerve-wracking thing for the Cavs where, you know, if he opts to not sign an extension this summer. It could be as simple as, hey, I want to be here. I love it here. All things that he has said. But the best thing in his financial interest is to wait a year where he can sign for an additional year and some additional dollars, which when you're in a position like Donovan, you obviously want to maximize every dollar that you can potentially make. But I don't know if the Cavs are going to want to be paying him $70 million a year down the line. I do think in a perfect world, and we will talk about guys taking discounts coming up in a little bit when we get to the James Harden part of this conversation. I do think in a perfect world for the Cavs, they signed Donovan Mitchell to an extension, but in a perfect world, I'm not sure that extension is at max dollars. I'm not sure that extension is at the full max that he's capable of signing for. That is one of the things that I think is the most fascinating things about this summer because to me it's very clear through Donovan's comments. It's very clear through Kobe Alman's comments.
It's very clear through everybody's comments and everybody's actions too. I don't think that this stuff is just words. I think this is actions. Like they have backed up everything they've said. I think that all parties want to be together.
Now, does Donovan only want to be here if he's on a max? I don't know. I don't have reason to believe that's the case.
I don't know that the Cavs are for sure not going to offer him the max, but I wonder if in a perfect world, could the Cavs get Donovan Mitchell on a contract that is a raise from what he's making now, but maybe less than every single dollar and cent that he's capable of making? Because in today's world of the second apron and all the financial penalties that come along with the new collective bargaining agreement that was put into place recently, you need to find ways to build around guys that maybe aren't making every single dollar and cent that's completely available to them. So I think that's one of the things that is just worth keeping an eye on this summer as we monitor the Donovan Mitchell and Cleveland Cavaliers situation. It's clear to me these two sides are not heading for a breakup. I wonder if they're heading for an extension this summer. And if they are heading for an extension this summer, I wonder just how much money that extension is going to be. One more quote about Donovan from Kobe Alman that I want to read into a little bit. Said, quote, I would say that Donovan is uniquely ours and he's our guy. And when you are constantly an allNBA talent, that is a great leader, that has incredible work ethic, that adds to the culture, that adds to the mystique of our program, you embrace that. And it's easy to point to other players and say, "Oh, I wish I had." No, Donovan is uniquely ours. And we're very, very fortunate to have an all-star superstar caliber player that's here in Cleveland that loves it here. So, let's lean into him with his faults. And of course, every player does have faults. Like, that was not saying Donovan is not a perfect player because there are other players that are perfect players. There basically are no perfect players. Do we think we can win with him as the best player in a championship team? Yes. And we're going to pour into that. So, what did Kobe actually say there? said the Cavs are going to approach this off seasonason and their foreseeable future with trying to maximize the roster around Donovan Mitchell. They do believe that Donovan Mitchell can be the guy that is the best player on a team that wins the championship. Is that true? We have to wait and find out. Like again, as I said earlier, there's no way of knowing that until you see it happen. I didn't believe that it could happen with some guys and it has happened with them in the past, right? It might happen with Jaylen Brunson this year. In no world did I think Jaylen Brunson was capable of being the best player in a championship level team. And if I see Jaylen Brunson be able to do that. I think Donovan Mitchell is able to do that too because you can't tell me that they're a different tier of players.
Cannot tell me that. Jaylen has obviously had more postseason success and neither of them are perfect players and Donovan needs to work on things and he needs to get better. But you can't tell me that Jaylen Brunson can be the best player in a championship team and Donovan Mitchell can't. Now, that does mean the Cavs probably need to do some things to make this roster a little bit better around Donov Mitchell and make that roster a little bit fit a little bit better. And I think that's one of the things that if you're reading between the lines from Kobe Alman, that's one of the things that you look at and say, "Okay, this is kind of what he's saying here." Um, and I I do think that they believe in a future with Donovan Mitchell. They don't believe Donovan Mitchell is slowing down anytime soon. Donovan has been a top 10 player in basketball his entire time in Cleveland. And Donovan Mitchell is somebody they believe is going to be part of this team for a long time. So that means that they need to maximize what they have around Donovan Mitchell.
And if they do that, they think they're capable of winning a championship. Now, Evan Mobley's name has been one that is thrown about in trade rumors. Did Kobe Alman shut that down? We'll talk about what he had to say about Evan Mobley next right here on Locked on Cavs.
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Thank you again for making this edition of Locked on Cavs your first watch on YouTube or your first listen each and every day. And if you do make this show your first listen each and every single day, you might want to check out the locked on Cavs Everyday Dair Club because you get locked on Cavs completely adree by joining the Everyday Dair Club today. You can start your 7-day free trial right now and get closer to this team with the offseason finally here without the interruption.
So click the link in the show notes to claim your free trial today. Kobe Alman talked about a lot more than just Donovan Mitchell in his end of season press conference that took place on Friday morning. And one of the other topics that I think is going to draw a lot of eyes until things elsewhere get settled this summer is the status of Evan Mobley. Evan had, I thought, a solid postseason, but he had, I thought, an underwhelming regular season this year. Part of the reason why the Cavs struggled out of the gate, Evan Mobley was not good enough to start this season. And Kobe Alman was asked point blank, can you definitively say that Evan Mobley is going to be on the roster next year? And I think he was a little takenback by this question because there was a bit of a pause and he was asked that question. He said, "Yeah, I mean he's part of our future. I don't know what you mean by." And then the reporter who asked the question said, "Well, there are Giannis for Evan Moy rumors that are out there." And I I want to read a couple of things that Kobe had to say. So the first comments that he had on Evan Mobley were not necessarily based on a direct question about Evan.
It was more so about the pairing of Jared Allen and Evan Mobley. and he said, quote, "Evan Mobley, who you can argue was consistently our best player throughout the playoffs, which I do tend to agree with, by the way, I know everyone everyone wants this jump from him, and he does himself, but this playoffs, he was tremendous for us." And you think about game five on the road in Detroit, scores the last seven points to bring us to a tie ball game. And Kobe goes on to speak a little bit more about that. And that was a really big moment for Evan. There's no doubt about that.
He continued um his answer when asked about, you know, is Evan going to definitively be on this team next year. He said, "Yeah, I mean, he's a big part of our future. I don't know what you mean by that." And again, reporter interjected with the Giannis for Evans stuff. He said, quote, "We're not going to speculate on any players outside these walls. All I can tell you is since Evans been here, we've had the third best record in the league for five years, the third best record in the league. Now, we don't have a championship to show for that yet.
Boston and Denver, the other two teams that are ahead of us, those are the two teams with better regular season records than the Cavs over the past five years.
They have a championship to show for that. But all Evan has done is impacted winning. He's been remarkable for us in terms of our ascent the last five years.
He's a huge part of what we do. He knows he needs to get better. When we sat down and talked to him, we talked about the intangible stuff, not even the skill set stuff. How are we going to get stronger?
How are we going to build our your body up so you're going to be able to sustain? Man, we played him a lot of minutes this postseason. So, five years in, 24 years old, we are very fortunate to have drafted Evan Mobley in a spectacular rookie class. And he goes on to say, you know, of all the guys in that rookie class, and that was an outstanding rookie class. You think Kate Cunningham went number one. He obviously has been a fantastic player, the first team in that class to make first team AllNBA. Um, Jaylen Green has been, I think, a disappointment. It's fair to say, who was the number two overall pick. Scotty Barnes went fourth. He just missed out on being an allNBA player this year. He's had a really really strong career. Um France Vagner, like there have been a lot of guys in that class that have been really good. That's a really really good class. And Kobe to his point said, you know, Evan Mobley is the first one in that draft class to make a conference finals, which is I suppose true, at least as a guy that's like a main guy. Um because I'm I would have to go back and look. I'm sure someone from that draft class has been on a team in the conference finals. I don't know that they've played a part.
Um, but like that doesn't diminish his point. So, what is Kobe actually saying with this? I think he's saying we should probably cool the Evan Mobley for Giannis trade talk. Now, it's been reported by, I believe, a couple of different places. I think uh I want to say Jake Fischer from the Stein Line has had some reporting on this stuff. um that the Bucks are really interested in in Evan Mobley and they should be like I do think that Evan has not hit his potential. Like he has not been the best possible player he could be through five years and part of that is because as Kobe mentioned, Evan has really impacted winning. the fact that he has not played a game in five years that you've looked at and said, you know what, like that is just it. It's not an important game where you can look at and this is not to say one way is better or worse. Like I think if you're a fan of one team, you would prefer the Evan Moley path where all five years he's been in the league. The Cavs have been in the postseason. They were in the play in his rookie year, lost the two games, and they've been in the playoffs last four years. Now, that's not solely because of Evan, but you could look at it that way and say Evan has learned through winning, which is a good thing, but I think it's more difficult to do versus some of the other guys that you look at, like Cade Cunningham, for example. And it was not Cade Cunningham's fault that the Detroit Pistons were as bad as they were. But Cade got to learn in low pressure situations. He got to learn how to be the guy when I don't want to say wins and losses didn't matter, but he was on a team that won 14 games. And yes, he was injured through part of that season, but like those are low stakes games.
Evan Mobley has not played in low stakes games. And I think that can be something that when you don't get those opportunities to play in low stakes games when you are in a position where you're drafted right away and you need to figure it out because it's not just about how do you get better. It's about how do you help this team win a championship from the jump that becomes I think a little bit harder to learn and grow. Um, but I don't think the Cavs are in a position to where they want to give up on Evan Mobley. And maybe part of it is, and reporting came out from again Jake Fischer over at the Stein Line on Friday afternoon that Giannis might not want to sign a contract extension in Cleveland, but I I would be at this point I don't think that they are I do not think that we can rule out an Evan Mobley trade, but I wouldn't bet on it happening either. Like if I had to put a percent on it, I would probably say it's less than 15% that Evan Mobley gets dealt this off season. I think the Cavs probably view him as somebody that is untouchable. I think Donovan Mitchell is definitely untouchable, but I also look at it and say he's only untouchable until there's the right price. I don't know if they believe there's a right price for Donovan Mitchell. there might be a right price for Evan Mobley and he is a big part of their future, but you could also be a big part of the future by being an asset that you use to go get somebody that's the best player on your team. And it would be a humongous risk to trade Evan Mobley because he has not touched his ceiling as a basketball player. I think he can be a lot better than what he's been. The Cavs believe he can be a lot better than what he's been.
And I do think that part of it is they the the injuries this year I do think to his calf slowed him down without question. I thought he was better in the postseason than he was the regular season, but I think if the Cavs believe they need to get better externally, which I believe they need to get better externally. They're going to need to do so without moving any of their three best players. They're not trading Donovan. We're going to talk about James Harden in just a second. And I would be very, very surprised if they traded Evan Mobley. And if they do trade Evan Mobley, it's really difficult for me to envision them trading for somebody other than Giannis Anttompo. And I don't think they're trading for Giannis Anttompo unless they get some unless they get asurances that he's going to sign a contract extension in Cleveland because they are most certainly not trading Evan Moy for a rental. I can promise you that. That would be the most stunning thing in maybe the history of this organization if they traded Evan Moy for just a rental. Now, James Harden, the other best player in the team that we haven't talked about much in this podcast yet, but Kobe Alman did talk about him on Friday. We'll talk about what he said, what it means, plus the second apron stuff that I told you was important, and it kind of went the way I thought it would. Next, right here on Locked on Cows.
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Kobe Alman was asked about James Hart who obviously the team traded for at the trade deadline or just before the trade deadline this year and he is a guy that has a bit of power or leverage this off seasonason because Harden is in possession of a player option and Kobe was asked about the future of Harden with the Cavs and here's what he had to say. Quote, "Obviously he has a player option. We have to talk to his representation about what that looks like. We're hopeful he comes back and we have a full training camp with him.
That's a real important piece, but we need to figure it out. Obviously, we're in the second apron as of right now, which we will get to in a second, and we need to figure out what pieces we can bring back. Those are hard decisions.
The CBA puts that on you. If you have a really good deep roster, you have to make difficult decisions. And so, we'll start to deliberate what that means and who we can bring back. So, what did Kobe Alman actually say with this? Well, I think the Cavs are going to sign James Harden to a new contract. My expectation is that Harden is going to decline his player option and he's going to sign a new contract probably two or three years probably at around an average annual value of about $30 million. Now that player option I believe which $13 million of it is fully guaranteed. Um the rest is not fully guaranteed. So like the player option is he could pick it up and those $13 million get guaranteed and the Cavs could say thanks but no thanks. we're going to wave you instead. And James still gets that $13 million. That is not going to happen.
The Cavs are going to have James Harden on the roster next year. They're not going to wave him, but that's how that mechanism works. So, what I do believe is going to happen is the Cavs are going to be talking to James Harden's agents and they're going to figure out a deal.
And that deal is again probably going to be somewhere between two and three years. My estimation is going to be that it's going to be around $30 million. I would not be surprised the least bit if he signs a two-year contract worth $60 million. It could be like $28 million this year and $32 million next year as the cap rises and Harden of course could get those raises. So I look at this and think that is a way to get under the second apron in some sense. Part of the reason why the Cavs trade for James Harden is because one, and this is first and foremost because he's more available than Darius Garland. has a better track record of health than Darius Garland does. Two, James Harden is gonna be cheaper than Darius Garland. The Cavs were in the second apron this year. They were the only team in the second apron this year. I don't know if they're going to be in the second apron next year.
We're going to talk about that in a second. But one of the ways to gain a little bit more flexibility is if you can have somebody that during the regular season still play it at an all-star, all NBA level. I mean, James Harden did not make an allNBA team, but I believe he he was like the fourth or fifth guy with the most votes in the others um receiving votes category. So, it's not like he was very far off from being a third team allNBA player. Again, if you can get that kind of production at a cheaper rate, that is something that can help your roster building pretty substantially. So, I think James is going to be back. I know James is going to be back. I would be outside of Donovan Mitchell. I think if you like if I had to rank most likely to least likely to return to the Cavs next season, Donovan Mitchell is number one.
James Harden's number two. He's not going anywhere. He's not. He's going to sign a new contract with Cleveland. So, the Cavs are not going to be the same roster entirely next year. They're going to lose guys. James is not going to be one of them. Donovan is not going to be one of them. Evan is probably not going to be one of them. But, in order to build the best team around them, they do need a bit of financial flexibility. and James by signing a contract at a lower rate but more guaranteed dollars than what he has which is important when you talk about somebody who will turn 37 on August 26th that stuff matters. So how does this relate to the second apron?
Let's talk about what Kobe Alman has to say there because he was asked near the end of his availability about this. He said quote the urgency is there to get out of the second apron. Quote the urgency is there if there's a move that makes sense to do it. There's no urgency to get out of it just to get out of it because then you'd be shedding contracts and good players to do it. So you don't just do it to do it. We've been very very strategic. This is the first year that we've been in the tax since we started since 2018 I should say. So we got to we got to be strategic on what we're trying to do. What does that actually mean? Like I said on yesterday's preview podcast and how I this is exactly how I thought this answer would go. I would anticipate the Cavs trying to not be a Second Apron team, but I don't think them trying to get out of the Second Apron has much to do with the money. I don't think this is a mandate from ownership. I don't think it's Dan Gilbert and the Gilbert family saying, "Hey, we're we're spending a little too much money to not like be guaranteed a trip to the finals," which would be his right as an owner. I think the best owners don't do that stuff, and I don't think Dan Gilbert is doing that to be completely fair. And I think Dan is a very very good owner and I think the Cavs um are lucky that he is as financially available as he is because not every organization is like that. I think if you gave some other organizations Dan Gilbert with some of the rosters that they have like if you gave the Denver Nuggets Dan Gilbert, I think they probably have multiple titles that I I feel pretty good about that one. Um but if the Cavs want to get out of the second apron, it's so that they can have other roster building tools in their toolbox. It's so that they can have access to the taxpayer mid-level exception, which could get them a player that could really help. I will not name who that player could potentially be, but a player that could really help get some access to be able to aggregate players in trades, which is something they didn't have access to. Think about the trades they made this past season.
They traded um Lonzo Ball for nothing and had to attach second round picks.
They traded DeAndre Hunter for two guys.
They could not have traded DeAndre Hunter and someone else unless they got out of the second apron. So I do think that getting out of the second apron for them which I do think will happen because I think that naturally they're going to shed some money. Like I think that Dean Wade is going to be elsewhere.
I would be very surprised if Dean is back with the Cavs this year. I think Dennis Shruder is probably going to get traded this summer. Um, I would be surprised if this group is run back as in its entirety and I think when that happens, you're probably going to find yourselves not in the second apron and that's going to open up some things and that's going to allow Kobe and the rest of this front office to get creative and I think that's a really important thing.
So, I think when you look at them potentially dodging the second apron, it has everything to do with how can they improve and not much to do with how can we be less expensive. I think when you look at the way the Cavs operate, they're not an organization that's been cheap. They're an organization that's been smart. And it's never smart to be cheap, but it can be smart to open up some other roster building levers that they can pull. And getting out of the second apron, they're not going to duck the tax. There's no way that's happening. But getting out of the second apron is something that very much could make their lives easier in terms of how they build the roster. So, that's going to do it for today's edition of Locked on Cavs. Appreciate everybody hanging out with me on this lovely Friday afternoon. It's a beautiful day in Northeast Ohio. Finally, some great weather is here. Just in time for the caps to be done. We get great weather.
At least we got that going for us. So, as we get out of here, please do me a favor. Make sure that you hit the subscribe button wherever you get your podcast. That's on Apple, that's on Spotify, that's even on YouTube as well.
And if you're watching the show on YouTube, please do me a favor. Hit that thumbs up button for me. Click that notification bell if you've not done so already. And I will see you on Monday talking more about the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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