J.J. Redick To Miss Time With Leg Injury
J.J. Redick suffered an injury to his left leg against the Raptors on Monday which forced him to leave the game early. X-rays came back negative, but an MRI conducted on Redick earlier today revealed bone edema and a small crack in the fibular head of his leg.
As a result of the injury, Redick will remain sidelined. He’ll be re-evaluated in 10 to 14 days, according to a team press release.
The Sixers play in seven games over the next 14 days, seeing the Bucks twice as well as the Celtics, Grizzlies, Bulls, Spurs, and Thunder once apiece. Philadelphia is currently sitting outside the Eastern Conference playoff picture with a record of 20-20.
Latest On Nikola Mirotic
How much longer will Nikola Mirotic remain on the Bulls? It sounds as if the team is in no rush to deal the power forward, with a source telling Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun Times that the organization will continue to be patient with the trade market, leaving “ample time” for potential buyers to make offers.
The Jazz, Pistons, and Blazers have been linked to Mirotic, with Utah appearing to be the most serious suitor. The two teams discussed a Mirotic-Derrick Favors swap, though it’s unclear if Utah is willing to offer any additional compensation in the swap. Chicago’s front office has “made it clear” that it desires a first-round pick in exchange for the 26-year-old.
It was previously reported that Mirotic, who’s now eligible to be dealt, may like the idea of playing for the Jazz. He has the ability to veto any trade, though he claims he’s not getting involved in trade discussions at this time.
“I didn’t talk to [the Bulls’ front office recently],” Mirotic said. “Probably my agents are talking, so I don’t know so far what’s going on, but I know my name is going to be out there. I’m doing my job, and I’m sure they’re doing their job, and we’re both going to do what’s best for the team.”
The Bulls have thrived since Mirotic returned to the lineup, going 14-5 in the games he has played. The power forward is averaging 17.3 points and 6.8 rebounds per game while shooting 45.0% from downtown this season.
Mavs, Lakers To Pursue DeMarcus Cousins In Free Agency?
Not many NBA teams currently project to have maximum-salary cap room this offseason, but for those teams with space, DeMarcus Cousins figures to be a top target. Appearing on Nate Duncan’s Dunc’d On Podcast this week, Marc Stein of The New York Times identified the Mavericks and Lakers as two teams expected to push the Pelicans for Cousins, though he cautioned that New Orleans still looks like the frontrunner.
“I think most teams around the league believe that the Pelicans will re-sign Cousins unless he doesn’t want to stay there,” Stein said, according to RealGM. “I think the Pelicans are the clear favorites. Now, I would say there’s an expectation – and maybe it’s even speculation on the part of rival teams – but I’ve heard Dallas and the Lakers mentioned most frequently. Those are teams that are expected, whatever ‘expected’ means, to make a run at him.”
The Lakers figure to have enough room for at least one max player, if not two, but as Stein acknowledges, LeBron James and/or Paul George may rank higher than Cousins on L.A.’s list of potential targets. As for the Mavs, options for Wesley Matthews and Dirk Nowitzki would cut into their space significantly, but the team may still have enough flexibility to put a max offer on the table. Noting that there has been Cousins-related chatter for a while in Dallas, Stein suggests that a pursuit of the big man “would be a very Mark Cuban move.”
While it’s worth surveying the potential free agency landscape for Cousins, it’s probably still too early to get a real sense of which teams will pursue him most aggressively and where he could realistically land. The Pelicans’ success – or lack thereof – during the rest of the 2017/18 season figures to play a major part in the 27-year-old’s summer decision. New Orleans will also be able to offer more years and more money than any other team.
Cousins is currently in the midst of perhaps his best all-around season, averaging an impressive 25.5 PPG, 12.6 RPG, 5.1 APG, 1.6 BPG, and 1.5 SPG to go along with a .474/.356/.749 shooting line.
And-Ones: Trade Candidates, N. Robinson, Simons
Bulls forward Nikola Mirotic has been the subject of more trade rumors than virtually any other NBA player over the last several weeks, but he’s not the only “sell-high” trade candidate around the league, writes Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com. In an Insider-only piece, Pelton identifies several players whose trade value may not get higher than it is right now, including Grizzlies guard Tyreke Evans, Suns center Alex Len, and Nets teammates Spencer Dinwiddie and Joe Harris.
Those players may not be on the move before next month’s trade deadline – Pelton admits that the idea of dealing Dinwiddie would be a “particularly tough sell” for the Nets – but it would make sense for those clubs to at least explore the possibilities.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Former NBA guard Nate Robinson has officially signed a BIG3 contract and joined Tri-State – Jermaine O’Neal‘s team – as a co-captain, the league announced today (Twitter link). We heard as recently as last month that Robinson hadn’t given up on the idea of getting back to the NBA.
- While top prospect Anfernee Simons may commit to a college for the 2018/19 season at some point, he’s also considering making the leap directly to the NBA this year, as Jared Weiss of USA Today details. Simons reportedly intends to test the 2018 draft waters in the same way that Kentucky’s Hamidou Diallo did a year ago.
- Kristaps Porzingis is one of the few active NBA players capable of potentially matching the 48-point, 17-rebound stat line that Anthony Davis posted in Madison Square Garden on Sunday. While Porzingis isn’t at Davis’ level, Ian Begley of ESPN points to the development of the Pelicans star as evidence that the Knicks should be patient with Porzingis’ own development.
- Former Mavericks guard Gian Clavell, who was on a two-way contract with Dallas earlier this season, has signed with Turkish team Sakarya Buyuksehir for the rest of the 2017/18 campaign, per international basketball reporter David Pick (Twitter link). Clavell appeared in seven games for the Mavs.
Community Shootaround: All-Star Starters
The NBA’s new All-Star format will re-shuffle the Eastern and Western Conference players once the 24 All-Stars are selected, but up until that point, the voting process remains essentially unchanged. That means that, as usual, fan voting will help determine the 10 players – five from each conference – dubbed starters for next month’s game. Voting concluded last night, and this year’s All-Star starters will be announced later in the week.
As of the last update on voting results, there were no huge surprises in either conference. In the East, Kyrie Irving and DeMar DeRozan were the top backcourt vote-getters, while LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Joel Embiid led the way in the frontcourt. Out West, teammates Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and Draymond Green were all among the top vote-getters, with James Harden and Anthony Davis joining them.
Those 10 players would be worthy starters, but they’re hardly the only candidates for the job. In an ESPN Insider piece published several days ago, ESPN’s Kevin Pelton makes the case for Al Horford and DeMarcus Cousins to join the starting ranks for the All-Star Game. Last week, Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News argued on behalf of Kristaps Porzingis in the East, and left out some big names in the West in favor of Russell Westbrook, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Karl-Anthony Towns.
There are other players – including Jimmy Butler and Victor Oladipo – with legitimate cases for starting roles, but we’re limited to 10, five in each in conference. With that being said, which five Eastern and five Western players do you think should be selected as All-Star starters for 2017/18?
Jump into the comment section below to share your thoughts!
Cavs Rumors: Roster Concerns, Nets Pick, Trades
The Cavaliers continue to hang onto a top-three seed in the East, but the team has dropped four consecutive games and eight of its last 10 — in terms of wins and losses, the 26-17 Cavs are now the same distance from the eighth-seeded Pistons (22-20) as they are from the second-seeded Raptors (29-13).
Cleveland’s slump has multiple players speaking to reporters – including Dave McMenamin of ESPN and Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com – to express a “growing discontent” with the state of the team. There’s increasing concern in the Cavs’ locker room that the squad’s problems aren’t fixable from within, according to McMenamin and Vardon.
“Rotations are awful. [Isaiah Thomas] is so much worse than Kyrie [Irving] defensively it’s insane,” one league source told Vardon. “There is not a great feeling anywhere. They need to limp into the All-Star break and get away from each other.”
The fact that Cavs players are expressing concerns to the media about the state of the franchise suggests that perhaps they’re trying to push the front office to make a trade to address some of those issues. According to Vardon, communication between the team’s front office and its players and coaches isn’t as frequent as it was under former GM David Griffin, so perhaps this is the simplest way for the players to send a message to management.
Here’s more from out of Cleveland:
- League sources continue to say that the Cavaliers prefer to hold onto the Nets’ 2018 first-round pick in case the team enters rebuilding mode next season, McMenamin writes in the piece linked above.
- A trusted source tells Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link) that he believes the Cavaliers will “definitely” make at least one deal before the February 8 trade deadline. However, Stein is skeptical that there’s a single move out there that would allow the Cavs to close the gap between them and the Warriors.
- The Cavs can forget about winning the NBA Finals this year if they don’t make a trade in the next few weeks, opines Sam Amico of AmicoHoops.net.
- In the wake of Gregg Popovich‘s comments about LaMarcus Aldridge‘s offseason trade request, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst compares and contrasts the way the Spurs handled that situation with the way that the Cavaliers handled Kyrie Irving‘s trade request.
Checking In On NBA’s Two-Way Contracts
Two-way contracts were introduced in the NBA’s newest Collective Bargaining Agreement, which went into effect for the 2017/18 league year. That means this is the first season that NBA teams have had two-way deals at their disposal, so we’re learning as we go along how those clubs intend to use them and how much turnover there will be in the two-way ranks.
[RELATED: Hoops Rumors Glossary: Two-Way Contracts]
Over the past several days, there has been plenty of turnover — January 15 represented the deadline for teams to sign players to two-way contracts for the 2017/18 season. As such, several teams moved to fill empty two-way slots in recent days, while other teams decided to replace one two-way player with another before it was too late to do so.
By the time the dust settled, 59 of 60 two-way slots around the NBA had been filled. The Wizards are the only club not to use both of its two-way slots. Washington is one of just four NBA teams that doesn’t have a G League affiliate of its own, limiting the control the franchise has over the development of its two-way players. Additionally, the Wizards’ lone two-way player, Devin Robinson, has yet to appear in an NBA game for Washington, so perhaps the club felt adding another two-way player would be an unnecessary investment.
Another deadline looms for two-way players, as all their 2017/18 salaries are set to become fully guaranteed on January 20. It’s possible that a two-way player could be waived before then, denying him his full-season salary, but I don’t expect we’ll see many of those moves — two-way players have very modest salaries, which don’t count against the cap, and replacements can no longer be signed, so there would be little upside to cutting a player at this point.
The full list of players currently on two-way contracts is below, sorted by team. Once these players reach their 45-day NBA limit (or a pro-rated version of that limit), they’ll no longer be eligible to play in NBA games unless their contracts are converted to standard NBA deals.
Atlanta Hawks
- Josh Magette, PG
- Andrew White, G/F
Boston Celtics
- Kadeem Allen, G
- Jabari Bird, SG
Brooklyn Nets
- Milton Doyle, G
- James Webb III, SF
Charlotte Hornets
- Mangok Mathiang, C
- Marcus Paige, G
Chicago Bulls
- Ryan Arcidiacono, PG
- Antonio Blakeney, SG
Cleveland Cavaliers
- John Holland, G/F
- London Perrantes, PG
Dallas Mavericks
- Jalen Jones, SF
- Johnathan Motley, PF
Denver Nuggets
- Torrey Craig, SF
- Monte Morris, PG
Detroit Pistons
- Kay Felder, PG
- Reggie Hearn, SG
Golden State Warriors
- Chris Boucher, PF
- Quinn Cook, PG
Houston Rockets
- Markel Brown, SG
- R.J. Hunter, SG
Indiana Pacers
- Ben Moore, F
- Edmond Sumner, PG
Los Angeles Clippers
- Tyrone Wallace, PG
- C.J. Williams, SG
Los Angeles Lakers
- Alex Caruso, G
- Gary Payton II, PG
Memphis Grizzlies
- Myke Henry, F
- Kobi Simmons, PG
Miami Heat
- Derrick Jones, SF
- Derrick Walton Jr., PG
Milwaukee Bucks
- Xavier Munford, SG
- Marshall Plumlee, C
Minnesota Timberwolves
- Anthony Brown, SG
- Amile Jefferson, PF
New Orleans Pelicans
- Charles Cooke, SG
- Mike James, PG
New York Knicks
- Isaiah Hicks, PF
- Luke Kornet, C
Oklahoma City Thunder
- P.J. Dozier, SG
- Daniel Hamilton, G/F
Orlando Magic
- Jamel Artis, SF
- Adreian Payne, PF
Philadelphia 76ers
- Demetrius Jackson, PG
- James Young, SG
Phoenix Suns
- Danuel House, SF
- Alec Peters, PF
Portland Trail Blazers
- Wade Baldwin, PG
- C.J. Wilcox, SG
Sacramento Kings
- Jack Cooley, PF
- JaKarr Sampson, SF
San Antonio Spurs
- Matt Costello, C
- Darrun Hilliard, G/F
Toronto Raptors
- Lorenzo Brown, PG
- Malcolm Miller, SF
Utah Jazz
- Erik McCree, F
- Georges Niang, PF
Washington Wizards
- Devin Robinson, SF
NBA Investigating Rockets/Clippers Incident
10:09am: There will be “no shortage of punished individuals” as a result of the NBA’s investigation into last night’s incident in Los Angeles, tweets Wojnarowski. That investigation began late last night and continues into today.
8:26am: Chris Paul‘s return to Los Angeles took an unexpected turn on Monday night after the Clippers beat the Rockets in a testy contest that featured multiple ejections. As ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports, tensions boiled over after game, with a handful of Rockets players looking to confront Austin Rivers and Blake Griffin in the Clippers’ locker room.
According to Wojnarowski, Paul, James Harden, Trevor Ariza, and Gerald Green walked through a back hallway to reach the Clippers’ locker room, where several L.A. players “dared the Rockets to come farther into the room.” However, security and team officials quickly stepped in and pushed the Rockets back toward their locker room, per Wojnarowski.
Sources tell Wojnarowski that the Rockets were upset with Rivers, who was described as “especially belligerent” during the late stages of the Clippers’ win, despite standing on the sideline in street clothes (he’s still recovering from an ankle injury). Griffin was also involved in confrontations with Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni and Ariza during the game, leading to his ejection.
While the details of Wojnarowski’s report are bizarre and fascinating, it appears the locker-room incident didn’t escalate beyond some shouting. “It was classic NBA,” one Clipper witness told Woj. “None of these guys were going to fight.”
Nonetheless, the NBA intends to investigate the matter and will begin to gather information on Tuesday, Wojnarowski writes. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the league announces fines and/or suspensions at some point this week, with the Rockets seemingly likely to be hit with harsher penalties.
Kings Begin Sitting Veteran Players
With top odds at the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 draft more likely than a playoff berth, the 13-30 Kings will focus more on developing their young players during the second half of the season. As Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee writes, that means head coach Dave Joerger has begun to remove certain veteran players from the team’s rotation for a game at a time.
According to Jones, the Kings will sit at least two – and perhaps three – of their veterans in each game going forward. That group of vets includes George Hill, Kosta Koufos, Garrett Temple, Vince Carter, and Zach Randolph. Carter and Randolph didn’t get off the bench during Monday night’s loss to Oklahoma City.
“It’s not an easy conversation,” Joerger said. “They’re very professional, they’re competitive. All of them are rotation players on a playoff team. So to ask those guys to step aside at different times is not enjoyable for me. They handled it well, they’ve been pros.”
When the Kings put together their roster for 2017/18, the hope was that the veteran group, led by free agent additions Hill, Carter, and Randolph, would complement young players like De’Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield, and Willie Cauley-Stein, forming a productive lineup. However, most of Sacramento’s young players aren’t yet ready to be impact players, and the club’s vets – particularly Hill – have been inconsistent.
With Joerger and the Kings focused on determining which young players should be part of the team’s long-term plans, it will be interesting to see if any of the vets are on the move before the February 8 trade deadline. The Hill and Randolph contracts may be tricky to move, but Carter is on an expiring deal, and Koufos and Temple have affordable player options for 2018/19.
Bucks Sign Marshall Plumlee To Two-Way Deal
10:55pm: The club has confirmed the signing via press release.
3:02pm: The NBA ranks will once again feature three Plumlee brothers, with Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports reporting (via Twitter) that the Bucks are poised to sign Marshall Plumlee to a two-way contract. Plumlee’s brothers Mason Plumlee (Nuggets) and Miles Plumlee (Hawks) are currently on standard NBA deals.
Plumlee, 25, saw his first NBA action last season, appearing in 21 games for the Knicks. The seven-footer wasn’t retained by New York and caught on with the Clippers for training camp in the fall, but was waived at the end of the preseason. Since then, Plumlee has been suiting up for the Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario in the G League, averaging 8.7 PPG and 7.8 RPG in 27 games for the club.
Once the signing is official, Plumlee will join Xavier Munford to fill the Bucks’ two-way contract slots. Milwaukee had been one of the few teams with an opening for a two-way signing entering the day today, so no corresponding move is required to make room for the new addition.
Based on the two-way moves reported and made official throughout the day, only the Wizards still have one of their two slots open.