A fractured right wrist may prevent Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic from earning a $1.25MM bonus this season, as Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter). Nurkic would earn that bonus if he plays in at least 62 games and Portland wins at least 44 games. Those thresholds are prorated downward from 70 and 50, respectively, to account for the 72-game season.
As we noted last night in our story on Nurkic’s injury, the Blazers do have an open spot on their 15-man roster and an open two-way contract slot, so they have options if they want to add depth up front with Nurkic and Zach Collins (ankle) both sidelined.
Portland is currently $1.87MM below the luxury tax line, according to Marks. Since two-way signings don’t count toward the tax and there’s no deadline to sign a player to a two-way deal this season, that option could appeal more to the Blazers.
Here’s more from around the Northwest:
- Nuggets center Nikola Jokic raved about new teammate JaMychal Green after Thursday’s win over Golden State, as Alex Ladibou of Nuggets.com writes. “I’ve always said JaMychal is a guy I’d like to play with for the rest of my life,” Jokic said. “He is amazing.” A source tells Mike Singer of The Denver Post that Jokic expressed a similar sentiment privately to Green after the game.
- Britt Robson of The Athletic feels the Timberwolves made a mistake by bringing Ricky Rubio back to Minnesota during the offseason, since Rubio’s style doesn’t mesh particularly well with D’Angelo Russell‘s. Minnesota has a -22.3 net rating so far this season when the two point guards share the court.
- Mike Conley had a down year in his first season with the Jazz in 2019/20, but is now finding his comfort zone, writes Tony Jones of The Athletic. Conley, an unrestricted free agent in 2021, is averaging 17.3 PPG and 5.6 APG on .452/.430/.774 shooting in 11 games so far in ’20/21 after putting up just 14.4 PPG and 4.4 APG on .409/.375/.827 shooting last season.
Green has been great so far. Aside from the obvious 3-point proficiency, he’s been mixing it up – playing under the hoop, playing great D and seems fired up. He, or someone like him is a perfect fit next to Nikola.
James Johnson has a similar thing going on in Dallas.
Just shows that guys can be unfairly maligned based on a role they may have been asked to fulfill in previous stops – see Sabonis in OKC.
I always liked Green and wondered how he didnt fit in LAC more last year. They could have certainly used him this year
Outside of Paul George (whoes playing damn near MVP level Rn) Im not impressed with the Clips
Bench is blah ( Lou needs his lemon pepper prawns, Ibaka seems slower, somethings off w Kawahi , Morris knee looks to be hobbling him, they have nothing at the Pg position and no real trade bait to bring in help
There games have basically gone, stay close, get a hot streak from PG, then hold on tight till the end
Rubio should be backing up Russell not playing with him. But when they do play together. 6-10 mins a gm maybe. Russell should just let him play the point. It’s not rocket science. Russell this yr seems out of it so far. Don’t get it considering KAT lobbied for him. He should be killing it in Minny.
I thought so too man, it’s too bad.
I think we have to trade rubio. I’d be totally fine with trading dlo too.
I think having Ricky isn’t impacting DLo the way Rosas had hoped. He’s good for Edwards, but this team isn’t built for that with his contract.
I think a Rubio for Aaron Gordon trade makes a lot of sense for both sides. Magic need a veteran point to make the playoffs and wolves clearly need a PF.
evan fournier isn’t vet enough.
Blazers should get Dwayne Dedmon for the vets min (1.5) which keeps them below the tax line and bring back Caleb Swanigan on a two way contract. Or look at Norvelle Pelle he was a beast of the bench for my Sixers
If the presence of the one player on a roster that has a basketball IQ is a problem, then it suggests the FO is the real problem.
Minn didn’t give up anything for Rubio (other than taking on his salary), getting 2 low 1st’s for 1 middling 1st in the trade. Easy to erase. Someone will take Rubio off the Wolves hands. Hey, maybe they can even get a true F in the process. Then they can start whining about how DR’s style doesn’t mesh with Edwards style; and that time, they’d be right.
Rubio needs the ball in his hands to be effective. He’s gotten better at a spot up shooting but his release is a bit slow. They need to make plays for him or just have Russell play off-ball.
Been very happy for Conley. He’s playing really well and looking comfortable out there. He’s a legit threat every night now. It’s been nice while Bojan works through his return from injury.
The Jazz, as a team, have picked it up defensively, too. Conley held Trae Young to a season or maybe even a career low. He only made one basket. Conley is smart enough to anticipate where a guy like Trae will go before he knows. Lol