The Charlotte Hornets are moving on from this player, but why??

But the big news of the day, it is NBA free agency.

We got Harrison Barnes signing a three-year, $54 million extension to stay with the Kings, James Harden wants out with the Sixers, and does Kyrie Irving going to the Suns to discuss these things with us and more. It is our good friend Brendan Whitted. Follow him on Twitter at hucocel.

Check out his work at bisonexpress.com. Brendan, what's going on, man? What's good, bro? How you doing, fam?

Doing very well. You sound like you're in Fourth of July mode, right? Oh, absolutely. 100%.

You're like, I'm 100% all in Fourth of July mode, 100%. And are you in NBA free agency mode? Are you just watching? Is there a ticker going?

Are deals flying, or when does it start heating up, actually? I see everybody talking about it, but I expected there to be more moves, honestly, at this point. I mean, look, I was personally shocked by the CP3 trade. If I'm being honest, I thought it was one of the worst contracts in the NBA. He's got $60 million due for the last two years of his deal, and he has not been healthy for quite a time because he's like 40 years old. For the Warriors, wasn't that more about who they were shipping out than who they were bringing in?

So it's super weird, right? Jordan Poole was supposed to be the future, and so the idea that they are now completely moving on from that doesn't make a ton of sense to me. Okay, he had a bad postseason, but it feels like he should still be there.

And so I'm very, very confused, so I'm assuming that's a lot of internal stuff going on. And I also assume that that also means that they're going to re-up with Draymond, right? Like, you don't move on from the future if Draymond still want to be there because there's obviously static between the two.

And so for Jordan Poole, shout out, you don't have to go to work with somebody to knock you out, so fantastic. Yeah, I'm not picking sides on that, but I see it the same way you do, where it seemed like those two weren't going to work together rather than try and work it out and just make a change. It might be eating a CP3 contract you don't like, but if you're just going to let that fester, that's going to get in the way of the team reaching its max potential.

Alright, let me ask you this question. Is there a theme to this year's free agency? I feel like some years the theme is, oh, the salary cap just went up a bunch, everybody's flush with cash. Sometimes the theme is, there's point guards galore to be had out there.

Sometimes the theme is, it's a weak class, there's nobody out there. Is there a theme to this year's free agency? I think the theme is Forrest Gump, where you don't know what you're going to get, where you see Rudy Gobert go for four first rounders, and then you see Bradley Bill go for some pick swaps.

There's just things to be had that we didn't know that were going to go on. I mentioned CP3 earlier, there's just some stuff going and moving and teams that think it's always, whatever happens with the trade deadline or the trade season, it's always a reflection of where your team thinks that they are. Like, a lot of, there's always a lot of talk from people like you and my for like, hey, well, I think the team is here. I think the team is here.

But the team will show you where they, where they think they are on their scale and on their timeline. And so if you're the Warriors, if you're going in with CP3 and that big contract, then I guess I guess that means that you think that you are very, very close and that you can add this little piece that's going to get you over that hump that that that derailed you against the Lakers this time. If you're the, if you're the Wizards, hey, we need somebody to put up these numbers, because there's nobody on our team that's going to do so we're so early in our, in our rebuild mode that we can just have like who go for like, you know, a go for 40 a night right like just go shoot your shots, it doesn't matter because we're still trying to rebuild and it's and that's kind of the most interesting thing like Dallas. Dallas to me was one of the more interesting and low key maybe moves of the draft and move back from 10 to 12, they get a trade exception they use it on homes from Sacramento. From Duke, and like they're like trying to, they're trying to build around to defensive efficiencies that they have in Luca and Kyrie, like that's that's.

I know it's not a, it wasn't maybe national news but that was major to me because it's like alright so y'all think y'all are getting carried back. Right. And so that's the thing with these teams.

They will show you who they think they are and that's far more important than the people that will talk about what they do. I got a question if you're James Harden, Kyrie Irving, if you're a good enough, which they have been at times it's question about whether or not, especially for Harden if he still is that good. And B, if your contract is big enough, you basically don't have to wait to be a free agent to create sort of a free agency opportunity right like you may not be true free agent where you could talk to every team.

But you can decide that you want to move teams and not just have to wait to your free agency like an average person. My question with both those guys, Kyrie's obviously won a title so let's take him out of this. James Harden I felt like is, there are guys who in my mind just didn't win a title or haven't won a title and then there are guys who also in my mind with whom I don't think you could win a title. For example, Charles Barkley did not win a title but I don't think the way Charles Barkley played the game prevented his team from winning a title right. I feel like Carmelo Anthony, Russell Westbrook, they're dudes who are amazingly talented and I'll pay the money to go watch them play and I love them and I want to see them play. When it comes down to can you win a title with them, I'm not sure that I ever put them in the category of like yes you can win a title with them right. James Harden at this point, I feel like he has fallen into I'm not sure you can win a title with this guy because at the end of the day he's going to revert back to playing the way he wants to play and that's not title winning basketball.

Am I crazy to see him that way? And the larger question, what will his value be to teams now and how will they view him? Right, so it picked up his option to make him a little bit easier to trade for.

It's tough man. I thought Harden played a hell of a season this year. He led the league in assists. He really adapted and changed the way that he played. Obviously, both him and Embiid came up small in game seven, but he won like Harden won two games in that series.

And so like, I can't, I can't wholly just be like hey you can't win with him because he played well. He wasn't the number one guy. Embiid was supposed to be the number one guy and as much flack as Harden has taken. It was supposed to be Embiid's show in game seven, because that's your team. That's your guy, right like you're, you're, you know, people are like well would you pay Harden this amount of money like cool, but he was supposed to be the number two. And he, he played like you if you if you're number two wins you two games, you really can't be salty about him not coming up big in game seven. I think that you can win with Harden. He's played some, I mean like the closest team that came to beating that Warriors team with Durant, which is the best team I've ever seen in my life was that Rocket Squad right now he didn't come up particularly big in the, in the most crucial parts of that season going on, but, but, but he was on that team.

And so and he pushed them to the limit. I, I'm just not willing to give up on him, maybe make and maybe that's what it is, I'm not willing to give up on him. He changed how he played enough during the regular season, he came into it came into the season in shape. Like he was all about the squad he took less money so they could get PJ Tucker. He gave you everything that you're supposed to give, particularly as a number two.

I just don't think that you can just just wholeheartedly be like nah, whatever, it's like he's the style of play because he changed his style of play I know that it wasn't pleasing thing when he was with the rockets a lot of times a lot of 105, but that's kind of how that team was built to work that way. I'm not going to take that out on Brendan Whitted check out his work for swarm and staying covering the Hornets check out his work at Bison Express. You got plans for the Fourth of July, my man. Yeah, well, so tonight I'm actually hitting on my boys pride party.

So that's going to be lit. And then I'm supposed to go see my cousins in like, Maryland, Maryland not be more in DMV Maryland like actual Maryland, like in the middle of nowhere as I come on guys but like I said I was going to go, I don't know if you've ever made plans at a point where you're just like super energetic and they like later on but like you know what. It sounds like they got enough people they got a quorum without you if, if you need. I feel that way too but I haven't seen them in a minute so like and his family you know, you know how family is like it's like all right well I said I was going to go, I text my cousin already that I was going to go so like, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna show face, I'm gonna show face, right, like, I'm gonna show face, and they, and they hit him with the, with the Irish goodbye at the end probably just divide at some point. Have a good Fourth of July, enjoy NBA free agency, and we will talk to you soon my man appreciate the time. Absolutely appreciate it bro.