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Southwest Notes: Zion, McGowens, Morant, Castle, Harper

December 15th, 2025 at 11:00am CST by Arthur Hill

Zion Williamson came off the bench Sunday as he returned to action after missing the previous five games with a right hip adductor strain, writes Matt Carlson of The Associated Press. It was the first time Williamson hasn’t started in his NBA career, but he was on a minutes limit and Pelicans interim coach James Borrego wanted to make sure he was available for crunch time.

“It was a game plan that allowed me to close the game, with my body being used to playing certain minutes of a quarter,” Williamson said. “So you know he walked me through it. I didn’t have a problem with it because it allowed me to close the game. The rhythm did feel pretty good, but most of all I’m glad we got the win.”

Injuries have been a recurring problem for Williamson, who has missed 16 games already this season with four separate issues. He can still be a difference maker when he’s healthy — averaging 21.7 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.8 assists per night — and New Orleans will need to keep him in the lineup to recover from a 5-22 start.

“Injuries suck, there’s no other way to put it,” he said. “Rehabbing’s not fun either. But over the summer, me putting that work in my body, it allows me — if something does happen — it’s nothing that keeps me out a super, long time. I’m able to rehab at a faster but more efficient rate.”

There’s more from the Southwest Division:

Bryce McGowens has been a pleasant surprise after joining the Pelicans on a two-way contract during the summer, observes Rod Walker of NOLA (subscription required). The fourth-year shooting guard is trying to reestablish himself as an NBA regular after having some success in Charlotte early in his career, and he’s been seeing consistent minutes in New Orleans. “I’m super blessed to be in this position of being in an organization that believes and trusts and puts me in situations,” McGowens said. “It feels good. I work hard. The coaches know me. My job is to get after it and do whatever the team needs me to do so we can win.”
Grizzlies guard Ja Morant had 21 points and 10 assists as he returned to the court Friday night, per Clay Bailey of The Associated Press. Morant felt a need to take charge of the offense after missing 10 games with a right calf strain, but he shot just 7-of-20 from the field and committed four turnovers in a little more than 25 minutes. “I was forced to get some shots up,” he said. “Some of them, I should have been to the free throw line. Some I missed. Some of them I made. I can’t change it. I just got to live with it.”
After attending Saturday’s NBA Cup semifinal games, Spurs legend Tony Parker came away impressed with young guards Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper, according to Mike Finger of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required). “They’re so fearless,” Parker said. “That’s how I was. That’s how Manu (Ginobili) was.”

Central Notes: Cavaliers, Merrill, Bucks, K. Jones

December 15th, 2025 at 9:59am CST by Arthur Hill

Boos from the home crowd have become a familiar sound lately for the Cavaliers, whose frustrating season continued Sunday with an overtime loss to Charlotte, writes Tom Withers of The Associated Press. Facing a Hornets squad without LaMelo Ball, the Cavs were flat for most of the game, but rallied late to force the extra session. However, they missed all 10 of their shots after regulation and wound up falling to one of the NBA’s worst road teams.

Fans loudly expressed their displeasure with the loss, and Donovan Mitchell understands their response, saying, “We deserve it. I was a fan once. I would boo us, too.”

Cleveland is now 15-12 and in a tie for eighth place after being viewed as one of the Eastern Conference favorites coming into the season. Injuries have played a role in the slow start, but Darius Garland emphasized that can’t be used as an excuse. Withers notes that Garland displayed obvious discomfort late in the game stemming from a lingering toe injury that required offseason surgery. Jarrett Allen was able to return Sunday after missing nine games with an injured finger, but the team is facing a long stretch without Evan Mobley, who may miss a month with a strained left calf.

“No one is feeling sorry for us,” Mitchell said. “I wouldn’t feel sorry for us. I know it’s cloudy. I know it’s dark. As long as we continue to stay together in this locker room, we’ll be all right.”

There’s more from the Central Division:

Cavaliers shooting specialist Sam Merrill remains sidelined four weeks after jamming his right finger in an on-court collision, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (subscription required). He wore a wrap around the injury during an individual workout last week, Fedor adds, but he only had limited use of his right hand. “He’s frustrated. We’re frustrated. It’s just a slow healing process,” coach Kenny Atkinson said. “Hasn’t gotten worse. Swelling is decreasing. It’s just hard to move forward. He’s frustrated more than anybody that this thing is not healing quicker. There’s nothing structural.”
The Bucks may be at a crisis point following Sunday’s 45-point loss at Brooklyn, suggests Eric Nehm of The Athletic. Players had talked about needing to build momentum following Thursday’s win over Boston, but they turned in one of their worst performances of the season and are barely holding on to the East’s final play-in spot. “That was disappointing, probably one of the more disappointing games I’ve ever been involved in with the way we performed and competed,” coach Doc Rivers said. “And we wanted to blame everybody but ourselves. We’re blaming the refs. We’re looking at each other. No one wanted to play hard. We got a lot of soul-searching to do.”
Second-round pick Kam Jones hasn’t played yet this season, but he was on the Pacers‘ active roster Friday night. Coach Rick Carlisle believes there was value in having the rookie shooting guard participate in the game-day experience, even though he didn’t get on the court, relays beat writer Tony East (Twitter link).

Nets Notes: 45-Point Win, Hetzel, Demin, Powell, Porter, Rookies

December 15th, 2025 at 9:01am CST by Arthur Hill

The Nets didn’t look anything like a tanking team in Sunday’s 127-82 win over Milwaukee, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. The 45-point margin tied the record for the largest victory in franchise history, and it provided the first career win for assistant Steve Hetzel, who was filling in because head coach Jordi Fernandez was ill.

“Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Just watching how well we played as a team. Normally, (Michael Porter Jr.) has been carrying us offensively, and then you see how spread out the points are. … I don’t think anybody that stepped on the court played poorly,” Hetzel said. “It was a great feeling.”

It was the fourth win in six games for Brooklyn, which has recovered from an 0-7 start to move to within three games of a play-in spot. Four of the team’s five first-round picks played significant roles in the game, and Milwaukee was held scoreless for the final 7:04.

“You hold any team to no points for six minutes, that’s elite,” Noah Clowney said. “This is the NBA. You don’t do that often to anybody. … That’s probably the best form of hoops when everybody eats and everybody’s playing well, everybody’s making shots. It’s just a good camaraderie.”

There’s more from Brooklyn:

Rookies Egor Demin and Drake Powell both responded with quality performances after being criticized by Fernandez following Friday’s loss to Dallas, Lewis states in a separate story. Demin had 17 points in 25 minutes, while Powell came off the bench for 13 points in 23 minutes. “He challenged Egor, he challenged Drake, and they both responded beautifully, with an edge,” Hetzel said. “It’s another step in their progression. They took a big step in having a bad game and then responding. And that’s what the NBA’s all about. You play 82 of them. You got to be quick to forget about the last one, move on and play better, which they both did.”
Porter has tended to carry the scoring load in his first season with Brooklyn, but Fernandez is concerned that isn’t the best approach for his young team, Lewis adds in another piece. The veteran forward had 34 points on Friday, but the Nets’ other players couldn’t respond when Dallas started sending multiple defenders at him in the fourth quarter. “We kept looking at Mike instead of using him and others taking or making the shot,” Fernandez said. “You can control if you take a good shot, you cannot control if it goes in.”
Hetzel serves as the Brooklyn’s Summer League coach, so he has extensive experience dealing with the team’s rookies, per C.J. Holmes of The New York Daily News (subscription required). Before Sunday’s game, he offered his thoughts on each of them and the progress they’ve made since the draft.

Sixers Notes: George, Embiid, Maxey, Oubre

December 15th, 2025 at 8:02am CST by Arthur Hill

Paul George turned in his best game of the season — and one of his best since signing with the Sixers in the summer of 2024 — in Sunday’s loss at Atlanta, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (subscription required). George didn’t seem to be bothered by the left knee issue that forced him to miss the first 12 games of the season as he went 7-of-10 from three-point range on his way to a 35-point night.

“I’m getting more and more comfortable within the system, within the offense,” he said. “At that point, now, I can kind of just be myself. Just allow the game to come to me, find my moment. And be aggressive in those.”

Injuries limited George to 41 games last season, which played a major role in Philadelphia’s collapse. The decision to give him a four-year, $211.6MM contract at age 34 was widely questioned, but now he’s hoping to change the perception of that deal.

“Last year was a lot going on,” he said. “I was just trying to patch up stuff. This year, I’m a lot healthier. I’m able. I feel like I can play my game. I feel like I can be myself. There’s still some things that got to come back. I’m not all the way 100 (percent). But I’m more myself than I was last year. So that’s the positive that I can take. And everything else is, with time, I’m just going to continue to get better.”

There’s more on the Sixers:

After playing both Friday and Sunday, Joel Embiid said he needs less time between games to prepare his knees, Pompey adds in the same piece. Earlier in the season, he required at least two full days off between games, but the knee pain has eased and he was able to perform effectively on Sunday, finishing with 22 points, a season-high 14 rebounds and two blocked shots. “I feel OK,” Embiid said. “I was a little tired out there. But I feel good. I’ll take it. I came out pretty good either way. So I’ll take it. Obviously, I would have felt better if we got the win. But that didn’t happen. … We’ll see how it feels tomorrow. But it was good things.”
Philadelphia played its second straight game without Tyrese Maxey, who is sidelined due to an illness, Pompey states in a separate story. There’s hope that Maxey, who ranks third in the scoring race at 31.5 PPG, will return for Friday’s contest at New York. “We’re concerned because he’s sick, and he wasn’t well enough to get on the floor here for a couple of games,” coach Nick Nurse said. “After Friday’s game, we thought he’d be at the plane to come with us but didn’t make it. I talked to him last night, and he said he’d see me at practice Tuesday. I said, ‘I’m not sure we’re practicing Tuesday, but I’ll be there. Me and you, man. I’ll see you there.’”
Kelly Oubre Jr. was reevaluated last week for the left knee ligament sprain that has sidelined him since November 14, but Nurse didn’t have an update on his condition, Pompey adds in a mailbag column. Oubre was able to do his first on-court individualized workout since the injury before Sunday’s game, but he hasn’t been cleared for practice yet. “Nothing new,” Nurse said. “He’s out there walking around a bit. He’s on the court a bit. I’m hoping there’s some. … It looks like there’s some progress there. And just like you, I want him out there ASAP and then back.”

79 NBA Players Newly Eligible To Be Traded

December 15th, 2025 at 7:04am CST by Luke Adams

Today is December 15, which means that – by our count – 79 NBA players who signed as free agents this offseason have officially become eligible to be traded.

The list of newly trade-eligible players, which can be found right here, features a number of guys who almost certainly aren’t going anywhere this season, like Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard.

However, it also includes some players whose names have already popped up in trade speculation in the months since they were signed. The most obvious name in that group is Clippers point guard Chris Paul, who has unofficially parted ways with the team but remains on the roster for the time being. Paul is now eligible to be dealt.

Kyrie Irving, James Harden, Myles Turner, Julius Randle, Fred VanVleet are among the other biggest names who are newly trade-eligible as of Monday.

Fourteen of the players on the list, including Lillard, Harden, and VanVleet, can’t be moved without their consent, since they have the ability to veto trades this season. The Rockets, Clippers, and Bucks are each carrying multiple players who fit that bill.

Six newly trade-eligible players are still on non-guaranteed contracts, including a pair of Spurs. If one of those players is included in a trade prior to the league-wide salary guarantee date of January 10, only the non-guaranteed portion of his salary would count for matching purposes for the team trading him away (the team acquiring him would still have to account for the player’s full cap hit).

Finally, it’s worth noting that there are still a number of recently signed players around the NBA who remain ineligible to be dealt. Many will become trade-eligible on January 15, while others will see their trade restrictions lift on unique dates.

Typically, teams wait until closer to the trade deadline (February 5) to make their moves rather than striking deals as soon as trade season unofficially opens on December 15, so we should count on most of the in-season trade activity occurring in January and February.

Still, it’s worth noting that a pair of trades were officially finalized on December 15 last season, so it wouldn’t come as a major surprise if two or more teams come together for a deal sooner rather than later.

A player who is traded on or before December 16 can be “re-aggregated” (ie. have his salary combined with another player’s salary for matching purposes) in a second deal prior to the trade deadline. The Warriors did this with Dennis Schröder last season, acquiring him from Brooklyn on December 15, then sending him to Detroit in the five-time Jimmy Butler blockbuster at the deadline.

Wizards Notes: Sarr, Carrington, Whitmore, Zone

December 14th, 2025 at 10:00pm CST by Eli Cohen

Wizards head coach Brian Keefe provided an update on Alex Sarr‘s recovery from the adductor injury that has kept him sidelined for the last six games, telling reporters on Sunday that the big man has not progressed to doing on-court work during practice, per Varun Shankar of The Washington Post (Twitter link).

As Shankar notes (via Twitter), Keefe previously referred to Sarr’s injury as a minor one, but these kinds of soft-tissue ailments can be hard to pin down and the Wizards are being cautious with the recovery process for one of their core players. The French big man is still making progress toward a return, Shankar adds.

Sarr has been one of the bright spots for the 4-20 Wizards this season, showing major growth in nearly every statistical category and leading the team in points (19.1), rebounds (8.6), and blocks (2.0) per game, while ranking third in steals (0.8) and fifth in assists (3.3).

We have more notes from the Wizards:

Pacers coach Rick Carlisle praised guard Bub Carrington after the Wizards beat Indiana 108-89 on Sunday, according to Shankar (Twitter link). “He’s a terrific young player. He’s had a lot of good games against us,” Carlisle said. “He’s skilled, he’s big, he’s versatile, he can play different positions. I think he’s a good defender, his shooting is the real deal.” When Shankar proposed Derrick White as a potential high-end comparison for Carrington as two guards who don’t get to the rim much but shoot and defend well, Carlisle responded that he agreed with the assessment (Twitter link). Carrington has struggled to find his role this season after starting 57 games for Washington last year, but he has played well in his last three games, all starts, averaging 17.3 points and 7.3 assists per night.
Cam Whitmore has missed the last three games due to coach’s decision. Keefe initially said the reason for his sitting was for failing to meet team standards, though he later walked that back and said that it was more a matter of giving other players a chance. Keefe echoed that sentiment when asked once again about it following the team’s 130-126 loss to the Cavaliers. “[Cam is] gonna be back in here in the mix at some point, it always works out this way,” he said, per Shankar (via Twitter). We’re seeing different guys — Will Riley, Jamir [Watkins] — those guys stepped up and have been playing well. Just looking at those combinations, nothing more than that.” Riley scored 12 points in 23 minutes in Sunday’s victory over the Pacers.
Keefe has been experimenting with using a zone in an effort to boost the team’s 30th-ranked defense. It was very effective on Sunday, as Indiana scored just 89 points against Washington — it was the first time this season that the Wizards had allowed fewer than 107 points in a game. “We did that a little bit the last game. Been working on it in practice last week,” Keefe said of the zone, per Shankar (via Twitter). “Wanted to mix up our coverages, some different things to see how they would handle it. Thought our guys did a good job and it helped change the rhythm of the game for us.“

Stein’s Latest: Antetokounmpo, Lakers, Porzingis, Johnson, Spencer

December 14th, 2025 at 8:05pm CST by Eli Cohen

Not much has changed on the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade front, Marc Stein writes in his latest article for the Stein Line (Substack link). However, according to Stein, there have been some indications which teams would – and wouldn’t – become players for Antetokounmpo should the Bucks, who lost by 45 points to the Nets on Sunday, make him available.

Teams are waiting for signals from the Bucks that they are open for business, but those signals have yet to come, according to Stein, who hears there have actually been whispers that Milwaukee will actually go the opposite way and look to reinforce the roster around its superstar forward.

If Antetokounmpo does end up on the trade block, some of the teams best positioned to pursue him may not enter the mix. Stein suggests there’s a “growing belief” that the Spurs, Rockets, and Thunder are happy with their current cores and won’t be looking to break them up to try to land the two-time MVP.

We have more from Stein:

The Lakers‘ loss to the Victor Wembanyama-less Spurs in the NBA Cup quarterfinals helped emphasize L.A.’s dire need for perimeter on-ball defenders, Stein writes. “I think being able to contain the basketball is probably the most difficult thing for our team right now,” Lakers head coach JJ Redick said after that game. According to Stein’s sources, the Lakers are hoping to target three-and-D players at the trade deadline, but the player pool – beyond Kings guard Keon Ellis – is relatively limited for now. Stein also notes that Los Angeles’ preferences in any deal would be to bring in a player on a similar age timeline as Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, who are 26 and 27, respectively.
Any major moves made by the Hawks during this trade deadline are expected to include Kristaps Porzingis‘ $30.7MM expiring deal, Stein reports. However, he notes the recent announcement that Porzingis would miss the next two weeks due to an unspecified illness could complicate a potential deal, given the similar health problems that limited the Latvian big man during the 2025 playoffs.
Jalen Johnson is expected to be off-limits in any trade talks for the Hawks. Johnson posted his fourth-straight triple-double on Sunday night, which Stein notes (via Twitter) ties Nikola Jokic for the longest streak this season. Johnson has been instrumental in keeping Atlanta competitive with Trae Young having been limited to just five games this season due to a knee injury. The Hawks have posted a 12-9 record without Young, and Johnson has averaged 23.8 points, 11.2 rebounds, and 8.8 assists per game in that span.
Warriors guard Pat Spencer is viewed as a near lock to have his two-way contract converted to a guaranteed deal, Stein writes. Entering Sunday, Spencer has been active for all 26 Golden State games, meaning he’s over halfway to his 50-game limit. The third-year guard is posting career-highs across the board, averaging 7.7 points, 3.3 assists, and 2.6 rebounds in 16.4 minutes per game on .457/.424/.900 shooting splits. The Warriors currently have a full 15-man roster and are only operating about $264K below their hard cap, so they’ll need to make another move before they’re able to convert Spencer.

Knicks Notes: Brunson, Brown, Kolek, NBA Cup Final

December 14th, 2025 at 7:01pm CST by Eli Cohen

In a league whose teams are increasingly seeking ball-handlers with size, Jalen Brunson‘s scoring mastery makes him something of a modern-day unicorn for the Knicks, writes James L. Edwards III of The Athletic.

“He’s got good pace, and he’s really smart. He doesn’t really get too bored with the game,” said Magic guard Jalen Suggs. “He doesn’t get too bored keeping it simple. He challenges you every possession. He’s one of the best players in our league. I love the fact that we get to play him four times a year. I’ve gotten better from our battles.”

Only seven players are currently averaging more points per game than Brunson, and of those seven, Edwards says, only two do so at a similar height: Donovan Mitchell and Tyrese Maxey, both of whom possess athletic gifts that Brunson cannot replicate. That’s why Edwards refers to Brunson as, “pound for pound,” the best scorer in the NBA.

Despite Brunson’s All-NBA level play in recent years, skeptics continue to question whether a guard of his size can lead a team to a championship. As Stefan Bondy of the New York Post, the Knicks star is beginning to win over some of those doubters.

“No one thought that a team shooting a lot of threes could win a title until Golden State did it,” said Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade. “Charles [Barkley] is always talking about, ‘You can’t win shooting threes.’ So obviously anything is possible. Is it hard? Yes. It’s really, really hard. So that just means for Jalen to be as great as he needs to be, that means everybody else around him needs to get better. … But it is yet to be seen. We’ve got to see it, too.”

We have more from the Knicks:

This year’s version of the Knicks has proven more resilient than in previous seasons, and much of that is due to new head coach Mike Brown, opines Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News. Brown’s insistence on playing with pace has made New York’s offense less predictable, and his emphasis on hitting first in terms of physicality has made the team’s defense less toothless than last season. “I think our physicality is extremely better,” Josh Hart said. “When you’re able to be physical on the perimeter, you’re able to throw teams off what they do and now your defense is more impactful. You can be in passing lanes and do those kinds of things, protect shots at the rim. So I think our physicality is something that’s driving that, and that’s something we have to do.” Winfield notes that between those changes and getting Karl-Anthony Towns to play his best on defense, Brown may be laying the groundwork for a third Coach of the Year campaign.
Miles McBride‘s ankle injury has given Tyler Kolek an opportunity to prove that he can be the backup point guard the Knicks need, and Saturday’s win against the Magic was a step in the right direction, Bondy and Jared Schwartz write for the New York Post. Kolek was a team-best plus-17 in his minutes and was on the court for a crucial part of the game at the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth, as the Knicks took control. “Tyler did a fantastic job today, our young fella, of impacting winning,” Towns said after the victory. “He did that on a big stage tonight. I think one of his finest games as an NBA player was tonight, and may not show up on the stats sheet, but everybody in our locker room knows how important he was to us tonight.”
The Knicks are trying to prove that they belong among the NBA’s true contenders, and Tuesday’s matchup against the Spurs in the NBA Cup championship will be a key battleground for them to do so, writes Steve Popper for Newsday. The Spurs knocked off the league-best Thunder in their semifinal matchup and have managed to hold onto the fourth-best record in the Western Conference despite battling injuries and having a core group of players that skew very young. Popper suggests that a disappointing performance could give the Knicks an indication heading into trade season that some adjustments to the roster might be needed to secure a spot in the NBA’s upper echelon of contenders.

Magic Notes: Banchero, M. Wagner, NBA Cup Semifinal, Lessons

December 14th, 2025 at 5:01pm CST by Eli Cohen

Paolo Banchero has not played up to his usual standards for the Magic in the four games since his return from a left groin strain, but he’s encouraged by his game-by-game progress, according to the Orlando Sentinel’s Jason Beede (Twitter video link).

“I’m feeling good. I’m feeling better every game. Not really thinking as much in terms of like thinking about the injury.” Banchero said. “… I’ve been feeling better and better every game. Hopefully, I can continue to find my spots out there and continue to play within the team.”

The 2024 All-Star has averaged 17.0 points and 5.5 rebounds per night since returning to play, well below his career rates of 22.2 PPG and 7.1 RPG. He was quiet in the first half of the team’s NBA Cup semifinal loss to the Knicks, but was able to turn things around in the second half and finished the game with 25 points and eight rebounds.

“I think I started a little slow. Started to get involved more as the game went on,” Banchero said. “But 0-for-7 from three, obviously, I’m not happy about that. I feel like I got to the rim pretty well. I want to get to the line a little more. [A] little loose with the ball at times.”

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Moritz Wagner has been working diligently in his rehab from the ACL he tore one year ago, but his return will have to wait at least a little longer. According to Josh Robbins of The Athletic, Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley has ruled out Wagner for the team’s upcoming four-game road trip (Twitter link). The veteran center recently expressed optimism that he would be making his return sooner rather than later.
Mosley appreciated his team’s fight in the NBA Cup, Beede writes. “We fought. We battled,” Mosley said. “That’s what this team is going to continue to do… We missed a couple timely shots, a couple rebounds here and there for second-chance opportunities. Again, those are the details of the game we’re going to have to continue to look at. Give New York a ton of credit for how they came out and played as well.” The Magic were able to outscore the Knicks on second-chance points in Saturday’s NBA Cup semifinal, Beede notes, but converted those looks less efficiently, leaving potential points on the board. Meanwhile, the Knicks were able to score at will more often than a defensive-minded team like Orlando would prefer. “They were too comfortable,” Desmond Bane said. “We had a stretch there in the third quarter where I felt like we picked up our defensive intensity and were able to get into the ball and make it uncomfortable for them. But most of the night, just about everybody on the team was getting to the spots that they wanted to get to with little resistance from us.”
The Magic are using the loss to the Knicks as a learning experience to better prepare themselves for important games later in the season and in the postseason, Robbins writes. “I definitely think it’s motivating,” Banchero said. “I’m sure everybody wishes we played better on a stage like this against a good team that we could see later on in the season. [This] just shows us what we need to work on and how we can be better later on for the springtime.” Robbins points to both the Pacers and Thunder losing in the NBA Cup knockout round and using the experience as a launching pad for deep playoff runs. “We need these moments,” Bane said. “We need these games where we’re playing in meaningful games and have to go through some adversity. I think it will help prepare us for our next challenges.”

Heat Notes: Losing Streak, Threes, Herro, Wiggins, Jovic

December 14th, 2025 at 4:01pm CST by Rory Maher

The Heat were grateful to have an extended break after losing their fourth straight game on Tuesday, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. Miami has spent the past three days practicing after taking a couple of rest days in the middle of the week.

“Look, we don’t like losing,” head coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We have a very competitive group in the locker room. We’re just focused on getting better, not getting caught up in all the panic and narratives that potentially can be out there, just have to rally around each other.

“Look, it’s a competitive league. There’s so much parity right now. You have to play well and then you have to find different ways to win games. There’s going to be a lot of teams that are going through what we’re going through right now. You can’t panic for all the noise. You just have to focus on, ‘How do we get better?’”

As Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald notes, the Heat had gotten pretty lucky during their 14-7 start to the season, as opponents were converting three-pointers at a much worse rate than expected, while the Heat were one of the top outside shooting teams in the league. Both of those trends have reversed during their recent stretch of poor play.

“They’re doing a great job of scouting how we play our offense,” guard Norman Powell said. “They’re up higher. They’re two, three steps up above the three. They’re denying passing lanes. They’re trying to make us play one in the half court and then two inside the line.

“So we’ve just got to be better collectively, really working the offense like we were at the beginning of the season. We’re all on everybody’s scouting report in how we want to play, the pace, and trying to slow us down. So individually, we can all be better in how we navigate the offense, attack, kickouts, not taking so many tough two-pointers once we get into the paint.”

Here’s more on the Heat:

Spoelstra strongly pushed back on the notion that having Tyler Herro back has disrupted the team’s offensive rhythm, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “It’s just a total overreaction that’s misguided. We need Tyler,” Spoelstra said Friday. “And it will be a little bit of a process working him back into the mix. But to get where we need to go, we need Tyler’s skill and talent. We need our guys healthy, and that’s what we’re working on right now. We can be very dangerous when we get guys on the same page, committing to our identity, and Tyler’s a big part of that.” The Heat are just 3-3 when Herro plays, but they’ve been better when he’s on the court than when he’s off, Chiang observes, and the 25-year-old guard is once again putting up big offensive numbers.
While he admits there are pros and cons to the role, veteran wing Andrew Wiggins has grown accustomed to spending most of his time as a small-ball power forward, per Winderman. “It hasn’t been weighing on me at all. I’ve been feeling pretty comfortable,” he said. “It was more so newer at the beginning of the year. But, like I said, I feel comfortable now and I feel like I’m doing a solid job being the power forward. I mean, it has its advantages and disadvantages.”
Spoelstra says fourth-year forward Nikola Jovic will have an opportunity to play rotation minutes again at some point, Winderman adds, though when exactly that will take place is still up in the air. “He just has to stay with it,” Spoelstra said. “And each day is an opportunity for him to get better and to make an impression. That’s good that he has practice days, to show us. But he’s been working behind the scenes and he’ll get his opportunity again.”

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