Russell Westbrook’s retirement brought about a whole slew of eulogies and tributes (here’s mine!), but somewhat lost in the shuffle was an interesting comment by his agent, Jeff Schwartz:

(Marc Stein has since reported that Brodie rebuffed two teams interested in signing him to a contract, which puts that tweet in a different context.)

Schwartz’s wrath — somewhat hilariously misplaced, given that his agency managed to nab DeAndre Jordan two guaranteed years from the New Orleans Pelicans and Khris Middleton three years and a partially-guaranteed $18 million from the Wizards, among others — did pique my curiosity. When viewed in the aggregate, did the league spend on vets in 2025-26? And was that money well-spent?

Basketball Poetry

Examining wins and salaries by player age…

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