We get to the talented young teams with upside like Toronto, Charlotte, Atlanta, New Orleans, plus rebuilding teams like Detroit and Houston. Which team would we most want to be a fan of for the next 5 seasons, based on their talent, upside, coaching, organization, and market? How much do we value present vs future? How about good teams that may not have the upside vs wild cards that could blow up?

Also, we finally disagree when ruling teams out of the playoffs as we set our final fields.

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With @JohnHollinger and @NateDuncanNBA.

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Jaden Ivey has announced he will leave Purdue to declare for the 2022 NBA Draft.

"This has been a lifelong dream of mine and I am beyond excited for this journey," Ivey posted on social media.

Ivey is projected to go fourth to the Detroit Pistons in ESPN's latest mock draft.

Ivey played his best against ranked opponents, averaging 19.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists in nine games.

Johnny Davis will leave Wisconsin to declare for the 2022 NBA draft.

ESPN currently projects Davis as the No. 9 prospect in the draft class. Davis was named Big Ten player of the year and a consensus first-team All-American after averaging 19.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 34 minutes per game in his sophomore season.

"This season was an unbelievable ride," Davis said. "People didn't expect us to have the season we had, but the players in our locker room and our coaching staff always knew we had the potential to be a special team.

"With so many great teams and players in our league, it was obviously a huge honor to win Big Ten player of the year, but winning the Big Ten regular season title and playing in the NCAA tournament was so much sweeter. I would like to think NBA teams saw a player who is tough, who competes on both ends of the court every single possession and who will do whatever it takes to help my team win. Every time I step on the floor, I want to be the best player."

James Harden and Kevin Durant went on a trip to Greece together this past summer as their friendship blossomed again following the trade that brought back together nearly 10 years after they were split up by the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Sources tell Logan Murdock of The Ringer that Harden reassured Durant twice that he'd sign an extension to remain with the Nets long-term.

Durant signed his extension in August, but Harden declared before the season started that he planned to wait for free agency.

After Durant suffered a knee injury in January, communication with Harden broke down. Harden began searching for a new team while the losses mounted as he played without Durant and without Kyrie Irving for home games.

“It wasn’t like it was a disconnect between us as individuals. I felt like we liked each other,” Durant told The Ringer. “But I was focusing on rehab and he was focusing on the team. Naturally, I wasn’t around the group, but I can’t control how everybody feels about their situation. I can do my best and provide what I provide every day. If it helps someone, cool, if it doesn’t, that’s cool too, but I can’t stress myself out wondering how somebody else feels about the situation.”

In an interview with Logan Murdock of The Ringer, Kevin Durant reflected on how the Golden State Warriors were presented as "KD and the Warriors."

“I was expecting—and maybe that’s my fault—I was expecting the beat writers, whoever was on the beat there, whoever covered the team, to integrate me into the Warriors’ way of doing things,” he says. “Because I never tried to step outside of that and make that situation bigger and make it all about me. I just felt like I wanted to be a part of the group. There were plenty of times where obviously when it comes to media, I was separated from the group.”

Durant signed a series of short-term contract with the Warriors and by the third season, it began to appear as though he was planning on leaving. Durant moved from the East Bay to San Francisco before the final season and he was more isolated.

“For people to look at me and say I was malcontent or isolated or didn’t look happy, I’m like, ‘Yo, do you all see Klay every day? Did you all see how he walked in there?’ But that was just him and nobody ever bat an eye at him,” Durant told The Ringer. “I loved it and I picked up on some of those things and how they approach the team-building and team bond. I’m like, ‘Oh, this is more my style.’ I was just adopting what the team was already doing.

“We all had our separate lives. We all had families,” he adds. “The Bay is huge. Draymond [Green] lived an hour and a half away from me, so does Steph, so does Shaun [Livingston]. When are we getting together? We’re around each other every day on the road. I think it’s healthy when you have that level of separation, when you get at home and like, ‘All right, you all go do your thing and I’m going to do mine.’”

Durant feels the coverage of him was unfair.

“I just think I deserved a little bit more respect than that. I came out here and gave back money, sacrificed my name, and went out here and sacrificed my body every night to be the best that I can be. I just asked for a little bit more respect to wait until after the season than to badger me every day, all year with questions like that,” Durant says, referring to his free agency. “I thought it was unfair to me and the whole group to even think about anything that was going to happen after the year. It was unprofessional, in my opinion.”

Kevin Durant's move to the Brooklyn Nets has given him a new perspective.

“Before, I used to worry about expectations, but now, I’m solidified and confident in what I bring,” Durant told Logan Murdock of The Ringer. “I just try to focus on me the most as I can, the best I can.”

Durant is 33 and in his 15th NBA season, which has perhaps made him grow wiser and not necessarily solely driven by chasing titles and earning individual achievements. 

“Us winning a title, that would be amazing. That would be incredible. But that’s not the only reason why I play basketball,” Durant said. “I want to develop every day and I truly like this activity, you know what I’m saying? I like getting up knowing that I’m going to go play, and that’s really it for me. The championship and scoring 30 and the level that I expect to be at, that’s because I work to get there, but I just simply like the activity.”

Host Danny Leroux (@DannyLeroux), Adam Mares of DNVR and Locked on Nuggets (@Adam_Mares) and Derek Bodner of The Daily Six newsletter (@DerekBodnerNBA) talk about the dominant seasons for Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid.

They discuss what makes each of those centers great, how they have developed over the years, playoff expectations, the evolution of the NBA and much more.

Subscribe to RealGM Radio on Apple Podcasts or via the RSS feed. 

The NBA has informed teams of slightly higher projections for the 22-23 salary cap and luxury tax at $122 million and $149 million respectively.

The most recent previous update in February had a salary cap of $147 million and luxury tax of $147 million. Those estimates were each $2 million higher than previous estimates.

The NBA has a salary cap of $112.414 million this season. 

Adrian Wojnarowski has signed a multi-year extension to remain with ESPN.

“Millions of NBA fans rely daily on Woj’s distinctive insight and perspective,” said Jimmy Pitaro, Chairman, ESPN and Sports Content. “He’s accessible to fans through so many ESPN touch points and his tenacity, dedication and presence on social media provide added connectivity. We are thrilled to continue to showcase his exceptional work well into the future.”

Wojnarowski added, “I’m eager to continue working with a remarkable group of colleagues and grateful for ESPN’s relentless commitment to newsgathering and reporting. My profound appreciation to Jimmy Pitaro, Cristina Daglas, Norby Williamson, Dave Roberts, Lauren Reynolds, Greg Dowling, David Kraft and the entire universal news desk for the support, vision and leadership that makes ESPN such a remarkable place to do my job. Also, a thank you to my representative Matt Kramer for helping to bring and keep me at ESPN.”

Prior to his work for ESPN, Wojnarowski worked for Yahoo Sports, where he spent nearly 10 years, including two as editor of The Vertical. 

There has been pessimism about the possibility of Jamal Murray returning to the Denver Nuggets this season, but Michael Malone has indicated no decision has been reached.

“I don’t think it makes any sense to (say) … ‘We’re shutting him down,’” Malone said. “Who knows where the season’s going to go? A lot of crazy things can happen with six games to go, as well as into the postseason. Now with the play-in, the regular season ends and there’s a week for the play-in, then the playoffs start. It used to be, the season ended and playoffs started right away.

“I don’t think we need to paint ourselves into a corner and make any definitive decisions right now because this is not a mile race where it’s four laps and it’s over,” Malone said. “We have no idea where the finish line is. Until we have a better idea of that, let’s leave all options on the table and see what happens on a day-to-day basis.”

About 30 minutes before tip-off on Wednesday, Murray worked himself into a sweat doing drills against a handful of Denver’s player development staff. 

“I think the question on everybody’s mind is, ‘Will he play this year?’” Malone continued. “I’ll be honest, we still don’t have an answer. There’s been zero pressure from me to him about him coming back this year. Now we have (five) games to go, and it’s kind of a weird time to come back because every game is so important, so the balance of trying to work a guy back in as well as understanding that, ‘Hey man, every game matters.’ That is a tough dynamic to balance.

“But if Jamal Murray says to me, ‘Hey coach, I’m ready, man, I’d like to play,’ and he’s been cleared, then we’d figure it out,” Malone said. “I think, like anybody coming back, there are good days, there are great days, and there are some tough days. I think that’s kind of what he’s been dealing with probably the last month as he’s ramped up a little bit. And certain days I’m sure he feels great, and the next day he might feel like, ‘Man, I don’t know if I can do this.’ The biggest part for him, right now, is the confidence to go out there and be able to play without thinking about everything he’s doing. That’s the hardest thing when you’ve been away from the game for almost a year like he has been.”