This quick offering is for those readers out there who just can't seem to move on today, to fully comprehend, the news this morning of the Los Angeles Lakers reportedly preparing to commit $64 million to Timofey Mozgov.
We should try to cope with the Timofey Mozgov news together
If we come together, if we open up to one another and share our fears and disbelief, maybe we can get through the first 24 hours of NBA free agency.
If you understand it, get it, and have moved on, that's cool. But, sorry, we're stuck on this one. It's been a few hours now, and we can't stop thinking: 64, as in six and then a four after it, not six POINT four? … But, seven points and five rebounds a game, a lot of those in garbage time … he's almost 30, do they know that?
See: stuck. Stuck in the mud of the first few hours of NBA free agency madness.
But maybe rolling a few reflections out to our fellow dumbfounded friends on the internet will help...
Sixty. Four. Million. Dollars.
At the peak of our stuck'ness, we decided to look up old salaries, basically in an attempt to feel even more ridiculously confused by this $64 million number. It worked.
Magic Johnson and Larry Bird and Isiah Thomas have been retired for a generation, but they didn't play in the prehistoric (pre-Marv Albert) age. Multimillion-dollar contracts were common in their day.
It was painful to add up the career earnings for those three era-defining Hall of Famers: About $60 million, total.
Charles Barkley's career ended after those three -- what about Chuck? Forty mill, total. (Please, someone find Charles today and give him a microphone to comment on this.)
Fair comparison, considering eras and inflation and salary caps and TV deals? No, of course not -- but now you have to go to bed tonight knowing Timofey Mozgov is positioned to make more in the next four years than Magic, Bird and Isiah, combined, ever did on the court.
What must they be thinking today?
Stephen Curry and Kyrie Irving are probably too busy being incredible at basketball and life today to pay much attention to this news. But if they're on an incredible break and checking their AOL email accounts and see the Mozgov news, they must still be on the floor laughing. If you're Curry and you've made about $44 million in the NBA so far, or if you're Irving and you re-watch video of yourself winning Game 7 of the NBA Finals every day and you've made $37 million in the NBA so far, and you hear this news of a back-up center who PLAYED A TOTAL OF 25 MINUTES in the finals (not "scored 25 points" … PLAYED 25 MINUTES) that you just competed in, this must just be really, really funny, right?
Last thought: good for him
We're not haters. Good for Timofey. The last time we saw him he was taking selfies with some gals wearing less than an NBA tanktop jersey in a Las Vegas nightclub in the middle of the night. Now he's about to sign for more money than some of the best players of our lifetime ever made. He's played for six teams in three leagues on two continents. He's being fitted for a championship ring at some point this summer. In a couple weeks, he'll be 30. The NBA has gone completely mad, but hey, good for you, Timofey. (And heads-up, Vegas).
... OK, phew, done. We feel better now. And when the Lakers and Timofey "The Russian Double-Double Machine" Mozgov win the 2018 NBA finals, this will make a lot more sense.
If any more NBA news, completely insane or otherwise, pops, you'll hear about it on our On The Wolves blog from our guy Kent Youngblood.
Home for the holidays? Not the Wolves, who are heading for Atlanta, Dallas and Houston.